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'BY 



RAMBLES 



LAID AID ¥ATER, 



NOTES OF TRAVEL 



CUBA AND MEXICO; 

INCLUDING A CANOE VOYAGE UP THE RIVER PANUCO, AND 
RES^RCHES AMONG THE RUINS OF TAMAULIPAS, &c. 

" He turns his cxaft to small advantage, 
Wlio knows not ^^^hat to light it hrings." 



By B. M. NORMAN, 

AUTHOE. OF RAMBLES IN YUCATAN, ETC 




NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY PAINE & BURGESS. 

NEW Orleans: 

B. M. NORMAN. 

18 4 5. 



I- 11/3 
.H84- 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by 

PAINE & BURGESS, 

in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for 

the Southern District of New York. 



Stereotyped hy Vincent L. Dill, 

128 Fulton St. Sun Building, N. T. 

C. A. Alvord, Printer, Cor. of John and Dutch sts. 



PREFACE 



The present work claims no higher rank than that 
of a humble offering to the Ethnological studies of our 
country. Some portions of the field which it surveys, 
have been traversed often by others, and the objects 
of interest which they present, have been observed 
and treated of, it may be, with as much fidelity to 
truth, and in a more attractive form. Of that the read- 
ing public will judge for itself. But there are other 
matters in this work, which are now, for the first time, 
brought to light. And it is the interest, deep and 
growing, which hangs about every thing relating to 
those mysterious relics of a mysterious race, which 
alone emboldens the author to venture once more upon 
the troubled sea of literary enterprise. Had circum- 
stances permitted, he would have extended his re- 
searches among the sepulchres of the past, with the 
hope of securing a more ample, and a more worthy 



VI PREFACE. 

contribution to the museum of American Antiquities. 
He has done what he could, under the circumstances 
in which he was placed. From what he has been 
enabled to accomplish, alone and unaided, he hopes 
that others, more capable, and better furnished with 
"the sinews" of travel, will be induced to make a 
thorough exploration of these regions of ruined cities 
and empires, and bring to light their almost boundless 
treasures of curious and interesting lore. The field is 
immense. It is, as yet, scarcely entered upon. No 
one of its boundaries is accurately ascertained. The 
researches made, and. the materials gathered, are yet 
insufficient to enable us to solve satisfactorily the great 
problem of the origin of the races, that once filled this 
vast region with the arts and luxuries of civilization, 
and reared those mighty and magnificent structures, 
and fashioned those wonderful specimens of sculptured 
art, which now remain, in ruins, to perpetuate the 
memory of their greatness, though not of their names. 
The exploration and illustration of these marvels 
of antiquity, belong appropriately to American litera- 
ture. They should be accomplished by American 
enterprise. If not soon attempted, the honor, the plea- 
sure, and the profit, will assuredly fall into other hands. 
Enough has already been done, to awaken a general 
interest and cmiosity among the wonder-seeking and 
world-exploring adventurers of Europe ; and, if we do 
not speedily follow up our small beginnings, with an 



PREFACE. VU 

efficient and thorough survey, the Belzonis, and the 
ChampoUions of the Old World, will have anticipated 
our purjwse, and borne away forever the palm and 
the prize. 

But who shall undertake the arduous achievement ? 
Who shall be responsible for its faithful execution? 
If the difficulties are too great for individual enterprise, 
could it not be accomplished by a concert of action 
between the numerous respectable Historical and Anti- 
quarian Societies of our country? What more inter- 
esting field for their united labors? Which of them 
win take the hint, and set the ball in motion ? 

It is only required, that when it is done, it should be 
well done — not a mere experiment in book-making, a 
catch-penny picture book, without plan, or argument, 
or conclusion, leaving all the questions it proposed to 
discuss and solve, more deeply involved in the mist 
than before — but a substantial standard work, com- 
plete, thorough and conclusive, such as all our libra- 
ries would be proud to possess, and posterity would 
be satisfied to rely upon. There are men among us 
of the right kind, with the taste, the courage, the zeal, 
and the skill both literary and artistic, to do the work 
as it should be done. But they have not the means 
to go on their own account. They must be sent duly 
commissioned and provided, prepared and resolved to 
abide in the field, till they have traversed it in all its 
length and breadth and investigated and decyphered 



Vm PREFACE. 

SO far as it can now be done, every trace that remains 
of its ancient occupants and rulers — and the country, 
and the world, will reap the advantage of their labors. 

The author does not presume to flatter himself, that 
he has done any thing, in his present or any other 
humble offering, towards the accomplishment of such 
a work as the above suggestion proposes. He is fully 
conscious of his incompetence to such an undertaking. 
His main desire, and his highest aim, has been to pre- 
sent the matter in such a light, as to awaken the atten- 
tion, and stimulate the interest of those w^ho have the 
means, the influence, and the capacity to do it ample 
justice. And yet, he would not be true to himself, if 
he did not declare, that, in the effort to secure this end, 
he has used his utmost endeavor to afford, to the 
reader of his notes, a just equivalent for that favorable 
regard, which is found in that wholesome impulse 
which ought invariably and naturally to precede the 
perusal of any book. 

New Orleans^ October^ 1845. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 



Voyage from new Orleans to Havana 

TION OF the capital OF CUBA 

Introductory remarks, . 
Departure from New Orleans, 
Compagnons de Voyage, 
Grumblers and grumbling, . 
Arrival at Havana, 
Passports. — Harbor of Havana 
Fortifications. — Moro Castle, 
The city, its houses, &c., . 
An American Sailor, 
Society in Havana, 
Barriers to social intercourse 
Individual hospitality. 
Love of show. 
Neatness of the Habaneros, 



21 
21 
23 

24 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30- 

31 

32 

33 

34 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER II. 

PAGE. 

Public buildings of havana. — the tomb of columbus, 35 



The Tacon Theatre, 

The Fish Market, 

The Cathedral, .... 

Its architecture — paintings — shrines, 

Dechne of Romanism, 

The Tomb of Columbus, 

The Inscription, 

Reflections, .... 

Burial, and removal of his remains 

Ceremonies of his last burial, 

Reception of remains at Havana, 

The funeral procession, . 

The Pantheon, . , 

Mr. Irving's reflections, . 

Plaza de Armas, 

A misplaced monument. 

Statue of Ferdinand VII., . 

Regla — business done there, 

Going to decay. 

Material for novelists. 



35 

36 
36 
37 
38 
39 
40 
40 
41 
41 
42 
43 
43 
44 
44 
45 
45 
46 
47 
48 



CHAPTER III. 
The suburbs of havana, and the interior of the 

ISLAND, 49 

Gardens. — Paseo de Tacon, ...... 49 

Guiness, an inviting resort for invalids, .... 50 

Scenery on the route. — Farms — hedges — orange groves, . 51 

Luxuriance of the soil, . . . . . . .52 

Sugar and Coffee plantations, ..... 52 

Forests and birds, . . . . . . . .53 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



PAGE. 

Arrival at Guiness. — The town, . • . . . . 53 

Valley of Guiness, ........ 54 

Buena Esperanza, 54 

Limouar — Madruga — Cardenas — Villa Clara, ... 55 

Hints to invalids, ........ 55 

Dr. Barton, .56 

Splendors of a tropical sky, . . . , . . 57 

The Southern Cross. . 58 



CHAPTER IV. 

General view of the island of cuba, it 
towns, resources, government, &c. 

Political importance of Cuba, .... 

Coveted by the nations, . . . . 

Climate and forests, . . . . 

Productions and Population, . 

Extent — principal cities, .... 

Matanzas, — Cardenas, .... 

Principe. — Santiago ..... 

Bayamo — Trinidad. — Espiritu Santo, 

Government of Cuba, . . . . 

Don Leopold O'Donnell. — Count Villa Nueva 

General Tacon, his services, 

State of Cuba when appointed governor, 

Change affected by his administration, 

His retirement, ..... 

Commerce of Cuba with the United States, 

Our causes of complaint, 

The true interests of Cuba, 

State of education, .... 

Low condition of the people, . . . 

Discovery of Cuba, • . . . 

Early History. — Velasquez. — Narvaez, 

Story of the Cacique Hatuey, 



S CITIES, 



59 

59' 

60 

61 

62 

63 

64 

65 

66 

66 

67 

67 

68 

69 

70 

70 

71 

71 

72 

73 

73 

74 

75 



Xll 



CONTENTS. 



The island depopulated, . . . . 

Rapidly colonized by Spaniards, 

Seven cities founded in four years, 

Havana removed.— The Gibraltar of America, 

Possibility of a successful attack. 



PAGE. 

76 if 

77 

77 

77 

78 



CHAPTER V. 

Departure from Havana. — the gulf of Mexico 
arrival at vera cruz, . 

The British mail steamer Dee, . 

Running down the coast, .... 

Beautiful scenery — associations. 

Discoveries of Columbus. — The island groups, 

The shores of the continent, 

The Columbian sea, . . . . 

The common lot of genius, 

Sufferings cf the great. — Cervantes, — Hylander, 

Associations, historical and rojnantic, . 

Shores of the Columbian sea. 

Wonderful changes wrought by time, 

Peculiar characteristics of this sea, 
\ Arrival, at Vera Cruz. — Peak of Orizaba. . 

Castle of St. Juan de Ulloa, .... 

The harbor and the city, . . 

. Best view from the water — houses — churches, 
^ Suburbs — population, .... 

Health — early history, 

The old and new towns of Vera Cruz, 





. 79 


, 


80 




. 81 


. 


82 




. 83 


. 


84 




. 85 


&c.. 


86 




. 87 




88 




. 89 


. 


90 




. 90 




91 




92 


. 


93 




. 94 


. 


95 


. 


. 96 



CHAPTER VT. 

Santa anna ue tamaulipas and its vicinity. 
The old and new towns of Tampico, . . . . 



CONTENTS. 



Xlll 



The French Hotel, 

Early history of Tampico. — Grijalva, 
Situation of the new town — health, 
Commerce of the place — smuggling, 

Foreign letters — mails, 

Buildings— wages — rents — tone of morals, 

Gambling almost universal, . . . . 

The army. — The Cargadores, 

The Market Place— monument to Santa Anna, 

A national dilemma, ..... 

" The Bluff "—Pueblo Viejo, 

Visit to Pueblo Viejo, .... 

Its desolate appearance. — " La Fuente," 

Return at sunset. — Beautiful scenery, 

The Rancheros of Mexico, .... 

The Arrieros, 

A home comparison, 



PAGE. 

98 
98 
99 
100 
101 
102 
103 
104 
105 
106 
107 
108 
109 
110 
110 
111 
111 



CHAPTER VII, 



Canoe voyage up the river panuco. — rambles among 
the ruins of ancient cities, .... 113 



An independent mode of travelling, . 
The river Panuco — its luxuriant banks, 
A Yankee Brick Yard, . . . . 
Indians — their position in society, 
An Indian man and woman, . 
Topila Creek.—" The Lady's Room," 

Fellow lodgers, 

An aged Indian, .... 

Ancient ruins — site of an aboriginal town, 

Rancho de las Piedras, 

The Topila hills — mounds, 

An ancient well, .... 



113 
114 
115 
116 
117 
118 
119 
120 
121 
122 
122 
123 



XIV 



CONTENTS. 



A wild fig tree — mounds, 
An incident — civil bandoleros, 



PAGE. 

124 

125 



York 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Further explorations of the ruins in the vicinity 
of the rancho de las piedras, 

Situation of the ruins, 

Discoveries — a female head . 

Description — transportation to New 

Colossal head, 

The American Sphinx, 

Conjectures, .... 

Curiously ornamented head, 

A mythological suggestion, 

Deserted by my Indian allies, 

A thrilling adventure, 

The escape, 

A road side view, . 



127 

127 
128 
129 
130 
132 
134 
136 
137 
138 
139 
140 
140 



CHAPTER IX. 

Visit to the ancient town of panuco. — ruins, 
CURIOUS relics found there. 

Route along the banks of the river, 

Sceneiy — rare and curious trees, 

Panuco and its inhabitants, .... 

Language — antiquarian researches — Mr. Gallatin, 

Extensive ruins in the vicinity of Panuco, 

Sepulchral effigy, 

Custom of the ancient Americans. — A coujectm-e. 
An inference, and a conclusion, .... 
Ruins on every side — Cerro Chacuaco, &c. 
A pair of vases, . . ... 



141 

141 
142 
143 
144 
145 
145 
147 
148 
149 
150 



CONTENTS. 



XV 



CHAPTER X. 

Discovert of talismanic penates. — return by 
TO tampico, ...... 

Two curious ugly looking images, 

Speculations, ^ • 

Humbugs, • 

The blending of idolatries, . . . . 
Far-fetched theories, ..... 

Similarity in forms of worship evidence of a common ori 
Ugliness deified — Ugnee — Gan— Miroku, . 
The problem settled, . . . . • _ 
The Chinese — Tartars — Japanese, 
Return to the " Lady's Room," 
Travelling by night — arrival at Tampico, . 
Rumor of war — attitude of the French, . 
Mexicans check-mated, ..... 

Backing out, 

Dii Penates, 



PAGE. 
NIGHT 

151 

151 
152 
153 
154 
155 
156 
157 
158 
159 
160 
161 
161 
162 
163 
164 



m, 



CHAPTER XI. 

Excursion on the tamissee river. — chapote, its ap- 
pearance IN THE lakes and THE GULF OF MEXICO, 

Once more in a canoe, . . . 
The Tamissee — its fertile banks, 
Wages of labor — a promising speculation. 
The Banyan.— The Royal Palm, 
Extensive ruins. — Mounds on Carmelote creek, 
A Yankee house. — The native Mexicans, . 
The chapote in the lakes of Mexico, 
The chapote in the gulf of Mexico, . 
New Theory of the Gulf Stream, . 



165 

165 
166 
167 
168 
169 
170 
171 
172 
172 



Comparative temperature of the Gulf Stream and the Ocean, 174 



XVI 



CONTENTS. 



Objections to this new Theory, . 
Another Theory, not a new one, 
Tampico in mourning, 



PAGE. 

. 175 

177 

178 



CHAPTER XII. 

GENERAL VIEW OF MEXICO, PAST AND PRESENT. SKETCH 

OF THE CAREER OF SANTA ANNA. • . • 179 



Ancient Mexico — its extent — its capital. 

Its imperial government — its sovereigns, . 

Its ancient glory. — The last of a series of monarchies, 

Extent and antiquity of its ruins, .... 

Present condition of Mexico, 

Population — government — -ti'ansfer of power, 

The Revolution — Iturbide, 

Internal commotions — Factions, 

Santa Anna, his origin and success, 

Victoria. — Santa Anna in retirement, 

Pedraza, — Santa Anna in arms again, 

Guerrero — Barradas defeated by Santa Anna, 

Bustamente President. — Pedraza again, 

Santa Anna President. — Taken prisoner at San Jacinto, 

Returns to Mexico, and goes into retirement, 

In favor again. — Dictator — President, 

Paredes — Herrera — Santa Anna banished. 

Literature in Mexico — Veytia — Clavigero, 

Antonio Gama, — The inflated character of the Press, 

Preparing to depart — annoyances, .... 

Detained by illness, — Kindness of the American Consul 

Departure — at home, 



180 
181 
182 
183 
184 
185 
186 
187 
188 
189 
189 
190 
190 
191 
191 
19-3 
193 
184 
195 
196 
197 
198 



CHAPTER XIII 
The two American riddles. 
Baron Humboldt's caution. 



199 
199 



CONTENTS 



XVll 



PAGE. 

Enigmas of the Old World but recently solved, . , , 200 

The two extremes of theorists, . . • • • 201' 

A medium coiu-se, . . . . . . . . 202 

Previous opinions of the author confirmed, . . . 203 

Absence of tradition respecting American buildings, . . 203 

Nature and importance of ti'adition, , . . . 204 

The Aztecs an imaginative people, . . . . . 205 

Supposed effect of the conquest upon them, . . . 206 

The Aztecs not the only builders, — The Toltecs. . . 207 

Extensive remains of Toltec architecture, — A dilemma, . 208 
Character and condition of these ruins, .... 208 

Evidently erected in different ages, .... 209 

Origin of the builders — sceptical philosophies, . . .210 

The solitary tradition, . 211 

Imaginary difficulties — tropical animals, . . . .212 

A new Giant's Causeway, 212 

The Aborigines were not one, but many races, . . .213 
No head of the American type found among their sculptural 

remains, 213 

Art an imitation of nature — copies only from life, . . 214 

Inference from the absence of the Indian type, . . 214 

American ruins of Asiatic origin, 215 

Migratory habits of the eai-ly races of men, . . . 215 

Overflowings of the populous north, . . . .215 

Conclusion, ......... 216 



LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. 



Vignette title page. . .. \ . . . 


. 


MORO CASTLE, HAVANA. ..... 


. ' 27 


Peak of orizaba. 


90 


Castle of san juan de ulloa, vera cruz. 


91 


Indian man and m^oman. . . . 


117 


Female head. . . .... 


128 


Colossal head 


130 


The AMERICAN sphinx. 


132 


Curiously ornamented head. . . . . 


136 


A situation. . . . . 5 


139 


A ROAD SIDE. . 


140 


Sepulchral effigy. ...... 


145 


A PAIR OF vases. 


150 


Travelling by night. . . . . . 


161 


TaLISMANIC PENATES. ...... 


164 


Fragments of idols. 


178 



RAMBIES BY LAND AND WATER. 



CHAPTER I. 

VOYAGE FROM NEW ORLEANS TO HAVANA. DESCRIPTION 
OF THE CAPITAL OF CUBA. 

Introductory remarks. — Departure from New Orleans. — Com- 
pagnons de voyage. — Their different objects. — Grumblers and 
grumbling. — Anival at Havana. — Passports.— The Harbor. 
— The Fortifications. — The City. — Its streets and houses. — 
Anecdote of a sailor.— Society in Cuba.— The nobility. — 
" Sugar noblemen."— Different grades of Society. — Effects 
upon the stranger. — Charitable judgment invoked. — Hos- 
pitality of individuals. — General love of titles and show. — 
Festival celebration. — Neatness of the Habaneros. 

Who, in these days of easy adventure, does not make 
a -voyage, encounter the perils of the boisterous ocean, 
gaze with rapture upon its inimitable expanse, make 
verses upon its deep, unfathomable blue — if perchance 
the Muse condescends to bear him company — plant his 
foot on a foreign shore, scrutinize the various objects 
which are there presented to his view, moralize upon 
them all, contemplate nations in their past, present 



22 IMPULSE OF AUTHORSHIP. H 

and future existence, swell with wonder at the large- f 
ness of his comprehension — and return, if haply he 
may, to his native land, to pour into the listening ears 
of friends and countrymen, the tale of his ups and 
downs, his philosophic gatherings, with undisguised 
complacency ? Whose history does not present a chap- 
ter analogous to this? We might almost write one 
universal epitaph, and apply it to every individual who 
has flourished in the present century. — " He lived, trav- 
elled, wrote a book, and died." 

And, seeing that in this auspicious age, when the 
public mind is alive 

" To every peril, pain and dread of woe, 
That genius condescends to undergo — " 

when it seems disposed to appreciate the toil of intel- 
lectual effort, by the deference which it pays, the obedi- 
ence it yields, and the signal support which it gives, to 
the meritorious productions of the historian, the states- 
man and the scholar ; when we behold the power of 
discrimination so strikingly developed in the fact, that 
men are infinitely more regaled with the simple, truth- 
ful narrative, than with the ponderous tome of fictitious 
events, however pleasing the fabrication is made to 
appear ; — who, it may be asked, I care not whether he 
has washed his hands in the clouds, while tossed upon 
the summit of a troubled wave, or looked out upon the 
world, from Alps highest peak, or whether he has lean- 
ed over the side of an humble canoe, to disturb the 
tranquil waters of some placid stream, above the bosom 
of which, his modest aspirations will never suffer him 
to rise, — who that has travelled^ it matters not hoio^ 



DEPARTURE FROM NEW ORLEANS. 23 

I can do otherwise than exclaim, "Oh that my words 
I were now written — Oh that they were printed in a book !" 
Though not disposed to allow that no higher senti- 
ment than this prevalent cacoethes scribefidi has influ- 
enced me in the present attempt, I am, nevertheless, so 
thoroughly convinced of its epidemic prevalence at the 
present time, that I am resolved neither to wonder nor 
complain, if friends as well as foes, "gentle readers" 
as well as carping critics, should set it down as only 
and unquestionably a symptom. I shall retain my own 
opinion, however, albeit I do not express it ; and, con- 
tenting, nay congratulating myself with being in good 
company, shall complacently set out upon another 
" ramble," and sit down to another book, whenever 

" the stars propitious shine," 

or health, or business, drives me away from my quiet 
pursuits at home. 

It is no slight gratification, it must be allowed, to be 
enabled, by so feeble an effort, to make all one's friends, 
as well as a portion of the great world unknown, co?n- 
pag-nons de voyage in all our rambles — to bring them 
into such a magnetic communication with our souls, 
that they shall at once see with our eyes, and hear 
with our ears, and enjoy, without the toil and weari- 
ness of travel, all that is worthy of remembrance and 
record, in our various adventures by sea and land. 

On the 20th of January, 1844, in company with 
sixty fellow passengers, I turned my back upon the 
crescent city, and embarked on board the Steam Ship 
Alabama, Captain Windle, bound from New Orleans to 
Havana. Many of our number, like myself, were in 



24 COMPAGNONS DE VOYAGE. 

pursuit of health and pleasure, some were braving the 
dangers and enduring the privations of the passage, for 
the purpose of amassing wealth in the sugar and coffee 
trade ; and others were seeking, what they probably 
will never find this side the grave, a happier home 
than the one they were leaving behind them. 

With a variety of humors, but for the most part with 
light hearts, we committed ourselves to the mercy of a 
kind Providence, a capricious element, and a competent 
and gentlemanly captain ; and, setting aside such regrets 
as the sensitive mind cannot but indulge, in bidding 
adieu to the land of its birth, the companions of youth, 
and the faithful friends of after years, to visit distant 
and dangerous regions, to invite disease and brave 
death in many forms, we were probably as happy and 
merry a company as eVer pursued their trackless path 
over the bounding deep. Our ship and its regula- 
tions were miexceptionable, our table was sumptu- 
ously spread, and the weather, all that the most fas- 
tidious invalid could desire. 

To the above description of our company, I ought, 
perhaps, to make an exception in favor of a few pro- 
fessional grumblers from our fatherland. " Those 
John Bulls " of our company, ceased not their murmur- 
ings and repinings, until the recollection of imaginary 
wrongs, was swallowed up in the experience of real 
and substantial suffering, in the land of their glorious 
anticipations. But we must not marvel at, or find fault 
with, the redeeming trait of British character. It has 
long been universally admitted that John Bull is a 
grumbler. Whether it is a " streak in the blood," a 
universal family characteristic, or a matter of national 



GRUMBLERS AND GRUMBLING. 25 

education, I know not ; but it certainly belongs to the 
species, as truly and distinctively as a light heart and a 
gay deportment do, to their neighbors on the other side 
of the channel. It matters not whether you speak of 
the King or the Q.ueen, the Royal Patronage or the 
doings of Parliament, of England, or France, or the 
moon, he is always ready with a loud and argument- 
ative complaint, drawn from his own experience. If 
you sympathize with him, well ; if not, his indifference 
to your regard will certainly match your stoicism. 
Talk to him about Church affairs ; and, in all proba- 
bility, he will find a " true bill " against every Ecclesias- 
tical officer, from his Grace down to the humblest sub- 
ordinate. Still, if it be a redeeming trait, why should 
we not respect it as such ? True, it does not sound 
well, to hear one speak in terms of approbation respect- 
ing a grumbler. But surely, it must be simply because 
we are not accustomed to view this character in its 
proper light. A popular English writer observes, that 
"it is probably this harsh and stubborn but honest pro- 
pensity, which forms the bulwark of British grandeur 
abroad, and of British freedom at home. In short, it is 
this, more than any thing else, which has contributed 
to make, and still contributes to keep England what 
it is." No — it will never answer to make war upon a 
character like that of Bull. We may occasionally intro- 
duce him to the reader, but it shall be with a just appre- 
ciation of his imprint, and a profound regard for his 
material substance. 

After sixty hours delightful sail, we passed the cele- 
brated castle of the Moro, and entered the harbor of 
Havana. Contrary to our expectations, we were per- 

3 



26 HAVANA. ITS HARBOR. 



mitted to land with but little delay or inconvenience, j 
except that which arose from " Elnorte,"" or a dry norther, i 
which was blowing when we arrived, and rendered our 
landing a little uncomfortable. The thermometer stood 
at 70^, and the ^^ natives" were shivering under the j 
severity of the cold ! j 

The traveller, visiting this Island, should furnish , 
himself with a passport, issued or verified by the , 
Spanish Consul, at the port from which he embarks, i 
When furnished with this indispensable credential, if 
he pay a strict regard to the laws of the island, little 
difficulty is to be apprehended ; but, neglecting this, he 
will be subject to fines and the most vexatious delays ; 
and, probably, he will be prevented from landing. 
Strangers proceeding into the interior, for a period not 
exceeding four months, must also be prepared with a 
license from the Governor to that effect, countersigned 
by the Consul of the nation to which he belongs. This 
requisition is undoubtedly made upon the unsuspecting 
traveller, in consequence of impositions practiced by 
foreigners, during the recent difficulties which have 
taken place in Cuba. Thus will undisguising honesty 
ever suffer in the faults of a common humanity. 

The harbor of Havana is one of the best in the 
world. The entrance into it is by a narrow channel, 
admitting only one vessel at a time, while its capacious 
basin within, is capable of containing more than a 
thousand ships. The view of the harbor, as you ap- 
proach it from without, with its forest of masts, and 
the antique looking buildings and towers of the city, 
contrasting powerfully with the luxuriant verdure of 
the hills in the back-ground, is scarcely second to any 



FORTIFICATIONS. 



27 



in the world, in panoramic beauty and effect ; while 
the view sea- ward, after you enter the sheltered bay, 
the waters of the Gulf Stream lashing the very posts 
of the narrow gateway by which you came in, presents 
one of those bold and striking contrasts, which the eye 
can take in, and the mind appreciate, but which no 
pencil can pourtray, no pen describe. 




MORO CASTLE. 



The celebrated Moro, resting upon its craggy emi- 
nence, frowns over the narrow inlet. The Cabanas 
crowning every summit of the hills opposite the city, is 
a continuous range of fortifications of great extent, from 
whose outer parapet, elevated at least a hundred and 
fifty feet above the level of the sea, a most commanding 
view of the city and its beautiful environs is obtained. 
These fortifications are said to have cost forty millions 
of dollars. Within a mile on the opposite shore from 
the Moro, is still another fortress, so situated upon 
a considerable height, that its batteries could easily 



28 THE CITY, ITS STREETS AND HOUSES. 

sweep the whole space between. Looking down from 
these frowning battlements upon the busy scene below, 
I was struck with the variety of flags, from almost 
every nation under heaven, blending their various hues 
and curious devices, amid the thick forest of masts that 
lay at my feet. But of all the gay and flaunting 
streamers that waved proudly in the morning breeze, 
the stripes and stars, the ensign of freedom, the pride 
of my own green forest land, appeared always most 
conspicuous. 

The city of Havana stands on a plain, on the west 
side of the harbor, but is gradually, with its continually 
increasing population, stretching itself up into the 
bosom of the beautifully verdant hills by which it is 
surrounded. Its general appearance is that of a pro- 
vincial capital of Spain. There is an air of antiquity 
about this, and the cities of Mexico, which has no 
similitude in the United States. The streets, which 
are straight and at right angles to each other, are Mc- 
Adamized, and, in good weather, are remarkably clean ; i 
but, during the rainy season, they become almost | 
impassable. They are also very narrow, and without | 
any side walks for the foot passenger. The houses, i 
many of which are one story high, with flat roofs, have ! 
a general air of neatness and comfort. They are i 
usually either white or yellow washed. Many of them ! 
are of the old Moorish style of architecture, dark and j 
sombre, as the ages to which it traces back its origin. | 
The doors and windows reach from the ceiling to the 
floor, and would give an airy and agreeable aspect to j 
the buildings, were it not for their massive walls, and | 
the iron gratings to the windows, which remind one too 



AN AMERICAN SAILOR. 29 

Strongly of the prison's gloom. It is here, however, 
that the females enjoy the luxury of the air, and display 
their charms. They are never seen walking in the 
streets. Those who cannot afford the expense of a 
volante^ arraying themselves with the same care as 
they would for a promenade, or a party, may be seen 
daily peering through their grated windows upon the 
passers by, and holding familiar conversation with their 
friends and acquaintances in the streets. Many a 
bright lustrous eye, and fairy-like foot, have I thus 
seen through the wires of her cheerful cage, which 
were scarcely ever seen beyond it. 

A characteristic anecdote is related of an American 
sailor, who saw several ladies looking out upon the 
street, through their grated parlor windows. Supposing 
them to be prisoners, and sympathizing with their for- 
lorn condition, he told them to keep up a good heart, — 
and then, after observing that he had been in limbo 
himself, he threw them a dollar, to the great amuse- 
ment of the spectators, who understood the position of 
the inmates. 

But notwithstanding the gloomy appearance of the 
windows, the houses are well ventilated by interior 
courts, which permit a free circulation of air, — a com- 
modity which is very desirable in these latitudes. The 
floors are of fiat stone or brick, the walls stuccoed or 
painted, — and the traveller, judging from the external 
appearance, is led to imagine that within, every desira- 
ble accommodation may be obtained. In this, however, 
he is disappointed, and must content himself with some 
privations. Huge door- ways and windows, a spacious 
saloon, together with solidity of construction, are the 



30 SOCIETY THE NOBILITY. 

chief objects to which the architect in this country 
seems to direct his attention. The main entrance 
answers the purpose of a coach-house ; and it is no 
uncommon thing to see the volantes occupying a very 
considerable portion of the parlor. The amount de- 
manded for rent, in proportion to similar accommoda- 
tions in other cities, is exorbitant. The present popula- 
tion of the city and its suburbs, is about 185,000. 

Society in Havana, — and it is the same throughout 
the island — is a singular anomaly to the stranger. It 
is neither that of the city, nor that of the country alone 
— neither national, oecumenical, nor provincial, nor a 
mixture of all. There are three distinct classes of 
what may be termed respectable society — the Spanish, 
the Creole, and the foreigner. Among the former, with 
here and there an individual of the second grade, there 
are some who have purchased titles of nobility, at 
prices varying from thirty to fifty thousand dollars. 
They are often distinguished by the ludicrous sobriquet 
of " sugar noblemen," most of them having acquired 
their titles from the proceeds of their sugar plantations. 
Besides these, there are some few who have obtained 
the coveted distinction, as a reward for military services. 
Though more honorably obtained, the title is of less 
value to such, as they rarely have the means to support 
the style, which usually accompanies the rank. There 
are some sixty or seventy persons in the island, thus 
distinguished, who cannot, as a matter of course, con- 
descend to associate in common, with the untitled grades 
below them. Neither do they maintain any social 
relations among themselves. The proud Spaniard 
despises the Creole, and, titled or plebeian, will have 



BARRIERS TO SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 31 

nothing to do with him, beyond the necessary courtesies 
of business. Then the " nobleman," who has worn 
his dearly bought honors tioenty years^ esteems it quite 
beneath his dignity to exchange civilities with those 
iiovi ho'inines^ who are but ten years removed from the 
vulgar atmosphere of common life ; — while he, in his 
turn, is quite too green to stand on a par with those, 
whose ancestors, for two or three generations back, 
have been knoAvn to fame. 

The same impassable distinctions exist among the 
plebeian grades of society. The Spaniard hates the 
foreign resident, and will have no intercourse with him, 
except so far as his interest, in the ordinary transactions 
of business, requires. He despises the creole, who, in 
his turn, hates the Spaniard, and is jealous of the for- 
eigner. The result of this position of these antagonist 
elements of society is, that there is no such thing as 
general social intercourse among the inhabitants of 
Cuba, and scarcely any chance at all for the stranger, 
to be introduced to any society but that of the foreign 
residents. As these are from almost all nations, the 
range, for any particular one, is necessarily small. 

This being the case, with the constitution of society 
in Cuba, it would be extremely difficult for a temporary 
sojourner cprrectly to delineate the character of its 
inhabitants, perhaps, even unfair to attempt it. He can 
never see them, as they see each other. He can rarely 
learn, from his personal observation, any thing of 
society, as a whole, though he may often have favora- 
ble opportunities of becoming favorably acquainted 
with individual families. And here, two remarks seem 
to me to be demanded, before leaving this subject. 



32 INDIVIDUAL HOSPITALITY. 

First, that in all cases where such marked distinctions, 
and deeply rooted jealousies exist between the different 
sections of society, the open slanders and covert insin- 
uations of the one against the other, should be received 
with the most liberal allowances for prejudice. Envy 
and contempt are, by their very natures, evil-eyed, 
uncharitable, and arrant liars. They see through a 
distorted medium. They judge with one ear always 
closed. And he who receives their decisions as law 
will generally abuse his own common sense and good 
nature, by condemning the innocent unheard. Sec- 
ondly, if the society which Cuba might enjoy may be 
judged of by the known urbanity and hospitality of 
individuals, it might become, by the breaking down of 
these artificial barriers, the very paradise of patriarchal 
life. I know of nothing in the world to compare with 
the free, open-handed, whole-souled hospitality which 
the merchant, or planter, of whatever grade, lavishes 
upon those, who are commended to his regard by a 
respectable introduction from abroad. With such a 
passport, he is no longer a stranger, but a brother, and 
it is the fault of his own heart if he is not as much at 
home in the family, and on the estate of his friend, as 
if it were his own. There is nothing forced, nothing 
constrained in all this. It is evidently natural, hearty, 
and sincere, and you cannot partake of it, without feel- 
ing, however modest you may be, that you are confer- 
ring, rather than receiving a favor. This remark may 
be applied, with almost equal force, to many of the 
planters in our Southern states, and in the other West 
India Islands. Many and many are the invalid wan- 
derers from home, who have known and felt it, like 



LOVE OF SHOW. 33 

gleams of sunshine in their weary pilgrimage, whose 
hearts will gratefully respond to all that I have said. 
What a pity then, that such noble elements should 
always remain in antagonism to each other, instead of 
amalgamating into one harmonious confraternity, mutu- 
ally blessing and being blessed, in all the sweet human- 
izing interchanges of social life. 

Much as the inferior grades of society envy and dis- 
like those above them, they all display the same love 
of show, the same passion for titles, trappings, and 
badges of honor, whether civil or military, whenever 
they come within their reach. And when attained, 
either temporarily or permanently, their fortunate pos- 
sessors do not fail to look down on those beneath them, 
with the same supercilious pride and self gratulation, 
which they so recently condemned in others. I saw 
some striking, and to me, exceedingly ludicrous devel- 
opments of this trait of character, during the progress 
of a festival celebration, in honor of the day, when 
queen Isabel was declared of age, and all the military 
and civil powers swore allegiance to her Catholic 
Majesty. The ceremonies of this celebration were con- 
tinued through three days. The Plaza, and the quar- 
ters of the military, were splendidly illuminated with 
variegated lamps, and the buildings, public and private, 
were hung with tapestry and paintings, interspersed 
with small brilliant lights. Business was entirely sus- 
pended, and the streets were thronged with gay excited 
multitudes, arrayed with every species of finery, and 
decked with every ornament of distinction, which their 
circumstances, or position in society, would allow. Re- 
views of troops, and sham fights on land and sea, in 



34 NEATNESS OF THE HABANEROS. 

which the Governor, and all the high dignitaries of the 
island, took part, occupied a portion of the time, the 
remainder being filled up with balls, masquerades, and 
a round of other amusements. 

I do not know that it has been remarked by any- 
other writer, but I observed it so often as to satisfy 
myself that it was a general characteristic of the better 
classes of the Habaneros, that they have a singular 
antipathy to water. After a shower of rain, they are 
seldom seen in the streets, except in their volantes^ till 
they have had time to become perfectly dry. When 
necessity compels them to appear, they walk with the 
peculiar circumspection of a cat, picking their way with 
a care and timidity that often seems highly ludicrous. 
I They are neat and cleanly in their persons, almost to 
/ a fault, and it is the fear of contracting the slightest soil 
/ upon their dress, that induces this scrupulous nicety in 
" taking heed to their steps." 



CHAPTER II. 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF HAVANA, AND THE TOMB OF COLUMBUS. 

The Tacon Theatre.— The Fish Market.— Its Proprietor.— The 
Cathedral. — Its adornments. — View of fiomanism. — Infidel- 
ity. — The Tomb of Columbus. — The Inscription. — Reflec- 
tions suggested by it. The Removal of his Remains. Mr. 
Irving's eloquent reflections. — A misplaced Monument. — ■ 
Plaza de Armas. 

Among the public buildings in Havana, there are many 
worthy of a particular description. Passing over the 
Governor's House, the Intendencia, the Lunatic Asylum, 
Hospitals, etc., to which I had not time to give a per- 
sonal inspection, I shall notice only the Tacon Theatre, 
the Fish Market, and the Cathedral. 

The Tacon Theatre is a splendid edifice, and is said 
to be capable of containing four or five thousand spec- 
tators. It has even been stated, that, at the recent mas- 
querade ball given there, no less than seven thousand 
were assembled within its walls. This building was 
erected by an individual, at an expense of two hundred 
thousand dollars. It contains three tiers of boxes, two 
galleries, and a pit, besides saloons, coifee-rooms, offices, 
etc., etc. A trellis of gilded iron, by which the boxes 



36 THE FISH MARKET. 

are balustraded, imparts to the house an unusually gay ^ 
and airy appearance. The pit is arranged with seats 
resembling arm-chairs, neatly covered, and comfortably 
cushioned. The Habaneros are a theatre-going people, 
and bestow a liberal patronage upon any company that 
is worthy of it. 

The Fish Market is an object of no little interest in 
Havana, not only for the ric?i variety of beautiful fishes 
that usually decorate its long marble table, but for the 
place itself, and its history. It was built during the 
administration of Tacon, by a Mr. Marti, who, for a 
service rendered the government, in detecting a gang 
of smugglers, with whom it Mas been suspected he was 
too well acquainted, was permitted to monopolize the 
sale of fish in the city for twenty years. Having the 
prices at his own control, he has made an exceedingly 
profitable business of it, and is nov/ one of the rich 
men of the island. He is the sole proprietor of the 
Tacon Theatre, which is one of the largest in the 
world, and which has also the privilege of a twenty 
years monopoly, without competition from any rival 
establishment. 

The Fish Market is one hundred and fifty feet in 
length, with one marble table extending from end to end, 
the roof supported by a series of arches, resting upon 
plain pillars. It is open on one side to the street, and 
on the other to the harbor. It is consequently well 
ventilated and airy. It is the neatest and most inviting 
establishment of the kind that I have ever seen in any 
country ; and no person should visit Havana, without 
paying his respects to it. 

The Cathedral is a massive building, constructed in 



THE CATHEDRAL. 37 

the ecclesiastical style of the fifteenth century. It is 
situated in the oldest and least populous part of the 
city, near the Fish Market, arid toward the entrance of 
the port. It is a gloomy, heavy looking pile, with little 
pretensions to architectural taste and beauty, in its 
exterior, though the interior is considered very beautiful. 
It is built of the common coral rock of that neighbor- 
hood, which is soft and easily worked, when first quar- 
ried, but becomes hard by exposure to the atmosphere. 
It is of a yellowish white color, and somewhat smooth 
when laid up, but assumes in time a dark, dingy hue, 
and undergoes a slight disintegration on its surface, 
which gives it the appearance of premature age and 
decay. 

In the interior, two ranges of massive columns sup- 
port the ceiling, which is high, and decorated with 
many colors in arabesque, with figures in fresco. The 
sides are filled, as is usual in Roman Catholic churches, 
with the shrines of various Saints, among which, that 
of St. Christoval, the patron of the city, is conspicuous. 
The paintings are numerous ; and some of them, the 
works of no ungifted pencils, are well worthy of a 
second look. 

The shrines display less of gilding and glitter than 
is usual in other places. They are all of one style of 
architecture, simple and unpretending; and the effect 
of the whole is decidedly pleasing, if not imposing. 
This effect is somewhat heightened by the dim, uncer- 
tain light which pervades the building. The windows 
are small and high up towards the ceiling, and cannot 
admit the broad glare of day, to disturb the solemn and 
gloomy grandeur of the place of prayer. 

4 



38 DECLINE OF ROMANISM. 

It has been observed by residents as well as by- 
strangers, that the attendance on the masses and other 
ceremonies of the Roman church, has greatly dimin- 
ished within a few late years. I have often seen nearly 
as many officiating priests, as worshippers, at matins 
and vespers. They are attended, as in all other places, 
chiefly by women, and not, as the romances of the 
olden time would have us suppose it once was, by the 
young, the beautiful, the warm-hearted and enthusi- 
astic, but by the old and ugly, so that a looker-on might 
be led to imagine that the holy place was only a dernier 
resort^ and refuge for those, for whom the world had 
lost its charms. That there were some exceptions, 
however, to this remark, my memory and my heart 
must bear witness — some, whose graceful, voluptuous 
figures, bent down before their shrines, their beaming 
faces and keen black eyes scarce hidden by their man- 
tillas, might have furnished a more stoical heart than 
mine with a very plausible excuse for paying homage 
to them, rather than to the saints, before whose shrines 
they were kneeling. 

In the various religious orders of this church, there 
has been a corresponding diminution of numbers and 
zeal. The convents of friars, in Havana, have been 
much reduced, and but few young men are found, who 
are disposed to join them ; so that, in another generation, 
they may become quite extinct, unless their numbers 
are replenished from the mother country. The Gov- 
ernment has taken possession of their buildings, and 
converted them to other uses, and pensioned ofl" their 
inmates, allowing a premium to those who would quit 
the monastic life, and engage in secular business. 



THE TOMB OF COLUMBUS. 39 

Among the people, infidelity seems to have taken 
the place of the old superstition. Their holy-days are 
still kept up, because they love the excitement and 
revelry, to which they have been accustomed. Their 
frequent recurrence is a great annoyance to those who 
have business at the Custom House, and other public 
offices, while they add nothing to the religious or moral 
aspect of the place. Sunday is distinguished from the 
other days of the week, only by the increase of revelry, 
cock-fighting, gambling, and every other species of 
unholy employment. These are certainly no improve- 
ment upon the customs of other days, for blind super- 
stition is better than profaneness, and ignorance than 
open vice. But, in one respect, the protestant sojourner 
in Havana may feel and acknowledge that times have 
changed for the better, since he is not liable now, as 
formerly, to be knocked down in the street, or impri- 
soned, for refusing to kneel in the dirt, when " the host " 
was passing. 

In this Cathedral, on the right side of the great altar, 
is " The Tomb of Columbus." A small recess made 
in the wall to receive the bones, is covered with a mar- 
ble tablet about three feet in length. Upon the face 
of this is sculptured, in bold relief, the portrait of the 
great discoverer, with his right hand resting upon 
a globe. Under the portrait, various naval imple- 
ments are represented, with the following inscription 
in Spanish. 

; O Restos e Imagen del grande Colon ! 
Mil siglos durad guardados en la Orna, 
Y en la remembranza de nuestra Nacion. 



40 THE INSCRIPTION. 

On the left side of the high Altar, opposite the tomb, 
hangs a small painting, representing a number of 
priests performing some religious ceremony. It is 
very indiiferent as a work of art, but possesses a pecu- 
liar value and interest, as having been the constant 
cabin companion of Columbus, in all his eventful 
voyages, a fact which is recorded in an inscription 
on a brass plate, attached to the picture. 

The Lines on the tablet may be thus translated into 
English. 

O Remains and Image of the great Columbus ! 

A thousand ages may you endure, guarded in this Urn ; 

And in the remembrance of our Nation. 

Such is the sentiment inscribed on the last resting 
place of the ashes of the discoverer of a world. An 
inscription worthy of its place, bating the arrogance 
and selfishness of the last line, which would claim 
for a single nation, that which belongs as a common 
inheritance to the world. It is a pardonable assump- 
tion however ; for, where is the nation, under the face 
of heaven, that would not, if it could, monopolize the 
glory of such a name ? 

The glory of a name ! Alas ! that those who win, 
are so seldom allowed to wear it ! Through toil and 
struggle, through poverty and want, through crushing 
care and heart-rending disappointments, through seas 
of fire and blood, and perhaps through unrelenting per- 
secution, contumely and reproach, they climb to some 
proud pinnacle, from which even the ingratitude and 
injustice of a heartless world cannot bring them down ; 
and there, alone, deserted and pointed at, like an eagle 



ji REMOVAL OP HIS REMAINS. 41 

ii . 

I entangled in his mountain eyrie, amid the screams and 
I hootings of inferior birds, they die, — bequeathing their 
I greatness to the world, leaving upon the generation 
around them a debt of unacknowledged obligation, 
which after ages and distant and unborn nations, shall 
contend for the honor of assuming forever. The glory 
of a name ! What a miserable requital for the cruel 
neglect and iron injustice, which repaid the years of 
suffering and self-sacrifice, by which it was earned ! 

Columbus died at Valladolid, on the 20th of May, 1506, 
aged 70 years. His body was deposited in the convent of 
St. Francisco, and his funeral obsequies were celebrated 
with great pomp, in the parochial church of Santa Maria 
de la Antigua. In 1513, his remains were removed to 
Seville, and deposited, with those of his son, and suc- 
cessor, Don Diego, in the chapel of Santo Christo, 
belonging to the Carthusian Monastery of Las Cuevas. 
In 1536, the bodies of Columbus and his son were both 
removed to the island of Hispaniola, which had been 
the centre and seat of his vice-royal government in this 
western world, and interred in the principal chapel of 
the Cathedral of the city of San Domingo. But even 
here, they did not rest in quiet. By the treaty of peace 
in 1795, Hispaniola, with other Spanish possessions in 
these waters, passed into the hands of France. With 
a feeling highly honorable to the nation, and to those 
who conducted the negotiations, the Spanish officers 
requested and obtained leave to translate the ashes of 
the illustrious hero to Cuba. 

The ceremonies of this last burial were exceedingly 
magnificent and imposing, such as have rarely been 
rendered to the dust of the proudest monarchs on earth, 



42 RECEPTION AT HAVANA. 

immediately after their decease, and much less after a 
lapse of almost three centmdes. On the arrival of the 
San Lorenzo in the harbor of Havana, on the 15th of 
January, 1796, the whole population assembled to do 
honor to the occasion, the ecclesiastical, civil, and mili- 
tary bodies vying with each other in showing respect to 
the sacred relics. On the 19th, every thing being in 
readiness for their reception, a procession of boats and 
barges, three abreast, all habited in mourning, with muf- 
fled oars, moved solemnly and silently from the ship to 
the mole. The barge occupying the centre of these 
lines, bore a coffin, covered with a pall of black velvet, 
ornamented with fringes and tassels of gold, and 
guarded by a company of marines in mourning. It 
was brought on shore by the captains of the vessels, 
and delivered to the authorities. Conveyed to the 
Plaza de Armas, in solemn procession, it was placed in 
an ebony sarcophagus, made in the form of a throne, 
elaborately carved and gilded. This was supported on 
a high bier, richly covered with black velvet, forty-two 
wax candles burning around it. 

In this position, the coffin was opened in the presence 
of the Governor, the Captain General, and the Com- 
mander of the royal marines. A leaden chest, a foot 
and a half square, by one foot in height, was found 
within. On opening this chest, a small piece of bone 
and a quantity of dust were seen, which was all that 
remained of the great Columbus. These were form- 
ally, and with great solemnity pronounced to be the 
remains of the ^incomparable Ahnirante Christoval 
Colony All was then carefully closed up, and replaced 
in the ebony sarcophagus. 



HONORS TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD. 43 

A procession was then formed to the Cathedral, in 
which all the pomp and circumstance of a military- 
parade, and the solemn and imposing grandeur of the 
ecclesiastical ceremonial, were beautifully and harmo- 
niously blended with the more simple, but not less 
heartfelt demonstrations of the civic multitude — the 
air waving and glittering with banners of every device, 
and trembling with voUies of musketry, and the ever 
returning minute guns from the forts, and the armed 
vessels in the harbor. The pall bearers were all the 
chief men of the island, who, by turns, for a few 
moments at a time, held the golden tassels of the sar- 
cophagus. 

Arrived at the Cathedral, which was hung in black, 
and carpeted throughout, while the massive columns 
were decorated with banners infolded with black, the 
sarcophagus was placed on a stand, under a splendid 
Ionic pantheon, forty feet high by fourteen square, 
erected under the dome of tl;ie church, for the temporary 
reception of these remains. The architecture and dec- 
orations of this miniature temple, were rich and beautiful 
in the extreme. Sixteen white columns, four on each 
side, supported a splendidly friezed architrave and cor- 
nice, above which, on each side, was a frontispiece, 
with passages in the life of Columbus figured in bas- 
relief Above this, rising out of the dome of the pan- 
theon, was a beautiful obelisk. The pedestal was 
ornamented with a crown of laurels, and two olive 
branches. On the lower part of the obelisk were em- 
blazoned the arms of Columbus, accompanied by Time, 
with his hands tied behind him — Death, prostrate — and 
Fame, proclaiming the hero immortal in defiance of 



44 MR. irving's reflections. 

Death and Time. Other emblematic figures occupied 
the arches of the dome. 

The pantheon, and the whole Cathedral, was liter- 
ally a-blaze with the light of wax tapers, several hun- 
dred of which were so disposed as to give the best effect 
to the imposing spectacle. The solemn service of the 
dead was chanted, mass was celebrated, and a funeral 
oration pronounced. Then, as the last responses, and 
the pealing anthem, resounded through the lofty arches 
of the Cathedral, the coffin was removed from the 
Pantheon, and borne by the Field Marshal, the Inten- 
dente, and other distinguished functionaries, to its des- 
tined resting place in the wall, and the cavity closed by 
the marble slab, which I have already described. 

" When we read," says the eloquent Mr. Irving, " of 
the remains of Columbus, thus conveyed from the port 
of St. Domingo, after an interval of nearly three hundred 
years, as sacred national reliques, with civic and mili- 
tary pomp, and high religious ceremonial ; the most 
dignified and illustrious men striving who should most 
pay them reverence ; we cannot but reflect, that it was 
from this very port he was carried off, loaded with igno- 
minious chains, blasted apparently in fame and fortune, 
and followed by the revilings of the rabble. Such hon- 
ors, it is true, are nothing to the dead, nor can they 
atone to the heart, now dust and ashes, for all the 
wrongs and sorrows it may have suffered: but they 
speak volumes of comfort to the illustrious, yet sland- 
ered and persecuted living, showing them how true 
merit outlives all calumny, and receives it glorious 
reward in the admiration of after ages." 

Near the Quay, in front of the Plaza de Armas, is a 



PLAZA DE ARMAS. 45 

plain ecclesiastical structure, in which the imposing 
ceremony of the mass is occasionally celebrated. It is 
intended to commemorate the landing of the great dis- 
coverer, and the inscription upon a tablet in the front of 
the building, conveys the impression that it was erected 
on the very spot where he first set foot upon the soil of 
Cuba. This, however, is an error. Columbus touched 
the shore of Cuba, at a point which he named Santa 
Catalina, a few miles west of Neuvitas del Principe, 
and some three hundred miles east of Havana. He 
proceeded along the coast, westward, about a hundred 
miles, to the Laguna de Moron, and then returned. He 
subsequently explored all the southern coast of the 
island, from its eastern extremity to the Bay of Cortes, 
within fifty miles of Cape Antonio, its western terminus. 
Had he continued his voyage a day or two longer, he 
would doubtless have reached Havana, compassed the 
island, and discovered the northern continent. 

The Plaza de Armas is beautifully ornamented with 
trees and fountains. It is also adorned with a colossal 
statue of Ferdinand VII.; and during the evenings, 
when the scene is much enlivened by the fine music of 
the military bands stationed in the vicinity, it is the 
general resort of citizens and strangers ; — the former of 
whom come hither to enjoy the cheering melody of 
the music and the freshness of the breeze, — the latter, 
for the purpose of doing homage to the memory of 
him whose footsteps are supposed to have sanctified the 
ground. Here, and around the sepulchre of the depart- 
ed, a holy reverence seems to linger, which attracts the 
visitor as to " pilgrim shrines," before which he bends 
with respect and admiration. 



46 REGLA. 

The village of Regla, one of the suburbs of Havana, 
is situated on the eastern side of the harbor, about a 
mile from the city, and having constant communication 
with it, by means of a ferry. It is a place of about six 
thousand inhabitants, and is the great depot of the 
molasses trade. Immense tanks are provided to receive 
the molasses, as it comes in from the neighboring estates. 
I say the neighboring estates, for the article is of so 
little value, that it will not pay the expense of trans- 
portation from any considerable distance ; and very 
large quantities of it are annually thrown away. In 
some places you may see the ditches by the road side 
filled with it. In others, the liquid is given to any who 
will take it away, though in doing so, they are expected 
to pay something more than its real value for the 
hogshead. 

The greater part of the molasses that comes to Regla 
from the interior, to supply the export trade of Havana, 
is brought in five gallon kegs, on the backs of the 
mules, one on each side, after the manner of saddle-bags, 
or panniers. A common mule load is four or six kegs, 
equal to half, or two-thirds of a barrel. Large quan- 
tities are also transported in lighters from all the smaller 
towns on the coast, much of it coming in that way from 
a distance of more than a hundred miles. A large pro- 
portion of the article shipped from this port hitherto, 
having been unfit for ordinary domestic uses, and suit- 
able only for the distillery, the trade in it has been 
greatly diminished by the operation of the mighty Tem- 
perance reform, which has blessed so large a portion of 
our favored land. I have not the means at hand to 
show the precise results; but will venture to assert, 



GOING TO DECAY. 47 

from personal observation and knowledge of the matter, 
that the exports of this article from Cuba to this coun- 
try, for distilling purposes, have fallen off more than 
one half in the last ten years. 

The concentration of this once active and lucrative 
traffic at Regla, gave it, in former times, the aspect of a 
busy, thriving place. Now, it looks deserted and poor. 
It was formerly one of the many resorts of the pirates, 
robbers, and smugglers, who infested all the avenues to 
the capital, and carried on their business as a regular 
branch of trade, under the very walls of the city, and 
in full view of the custom-house and the castle. 
Thanks to the energetic administration of Tacon, they 
have no authorized rendezvous in Cuba now. Regla is 
consequently deserted. Its streets are as quiet as the 
green lanes of the country. Its houses are many of 
them going to decay. Its theatre is in ruins, and the 
spacious octagonal amphitheatre, once the arena for 
bull-fighting, the favorite spectacle of the Spaniards, 
both in Spain and in the provinces, and much resorted 
to from all quarters in the palmy days of piracy and 
intemperance, is now in a miserably dilapidated condi- 
tion ; affording the clearest proof of the immoral nature 
and tendency of the sport, by revealing the character 
of those who alone can sustain it. Tacon and temper- 
ance have ruined Regla. 

The only amusement one can now find in Regla, is 
in listening to the wild and frightful stories of the rob- 
bers and robberies of other days. It is scarcely possible 
to conceive that scenes such as are there described, as 
of daily, or rather nightly occurrence, could have taken 
place in a spot now so quiet and secure, and without 



48 MATERIAL FOR NOVELISTS. 

any of tnose dark, mysterious lurking places, which 
the imagination so easily conjures up, as essential to the 
successful prosecution of the profession of an organized 
band of outlaws. The system set in operation by 
Tacon, is still maintained; and mounted guards are 
nightly seen scouring the deserted and comparatively 
quiet avenues, offering an arm of defence to the solitary 
and timid traveller, and a caution to the evil-disposed, 
that the stern eye of the law is upon them. Volumes 
of entertaining history, for those who have the taste to 
be entertained by the marvellous and horrible, might be 
written on this spot. And I respectfully recommend a 
pilgrimage to it, and a careful study of its scenery and 
topography, to those young novelists and magazine wri- 
ters, who delight to revel in carnage, and blood, and 
treachery. 



HAPTER II 



THE SUBURBS OF HAVANA, AND THE INTERIOR OF THE ISLAND. 

The Gardens. — The Paseo de Tacon. — Guiness an inviting resort. 
— Scenery on the route. — Farms. — Hedges of Lime and 
Aloe. — Orange Groves. — Pines. — Luxm-iance of the Soil. — 
Coffee and Sugar Plantations. — Forests. — Flowers and 
Birds. — The end of the Road. — Description of Guiness. — 
The Hotel.— The Church.— The Valley of Guiness.— Beau- 
tiful Scenery. — Other Resorts for Invalids. — Buena Espe- 
ranza. — The route to it. — Limonar. — Madruga. — Cardenas, 
etc. — Cuba the winter resort of Invahds. — Remarks of an 
intelligent Physician. — Pulmonary Cases. — Tribute to Dr. 
Barton. — The clearness of the Moon. — The beauties of a 
Southern Sky. — The Southern Cross. 

The neighborhood of Havana abounds with pleasant 
rides, and delightful resorts, in which the invalid may 
find the sweetest and most delicious repose, as well as 
invio^oratinsr recreation: while the man of cultivated 
taste, and the devout worshipper of nature, may revel 
in a paradise of delights. Among the many attractive 
Jocalities, in the immediate vicinity of the city, the gar- 
dens of the Governor and the Bishop are pre-eminent. 

Outside the city wall is the " Paseo de Tacon," which 
is a general resort, not only for equestrians and pedes- 
5 



50 TRIP TO GUINESS. 

trians, but also for visitors in their cumbrous volantes. 
The stranger will find himself richly rewarded on a 
visit to this frequented resort. It consists of three ways : 
the central, and widest, for carriages ; and the two 
lateral, which are shaded by rows of trees and provided 
with stone seats, for foot passengers. It presents a 
lively and picturesque scene, crowded as it is with peo- 
ple of all classes, neatly, if not elegantly dressed. 

A delightful excursion to Guiness occupies but four 
or five hours by rail-road. It is much frequented by 
invalids, as an escape from the monotonous routine of 
city life, and presents many advantages for the restora- 
tion of health, and the gratification of rural tastes and 
pursuits. Surrounded by luxurious groves of orange 
and other fruit trees, — ^by coffee and sugar plantations, — ■ 
in full view of the table lands, proximating towards the 
mountains, and enjoying from November till May, a 
climate unequalled perhaps by any other on the face of 
the globe ; the fortunate visitor cannot but feel that, if 
earth produces happiness in any of its charmed haunts, 
" the heart that is humble might hope for it here ;" and 
the invalid, forgetting the object of his pursuit, might 
linger forever around its rich groves and shady Avalks. 
During three months of the year, the thermometer ran- 
ges about 80^ at sunrise, seldom varying more than 
from 70^ to 88^. Nearer the coast, there is more liabil- 
ity to fever. 

In the trip to Guiness, we did not fly over the ground 
as we often do on some of the rail-roads of our own 
country, the rate seldom exceeding fifteen miles an 
hour. And it would be more loss than gain to the pas- 
sengers to go faster. The country is too beautiful, too 



FARMS HEDGES ORANGE GROVES. 51 

rich in verdure, too luxuriant in fruits and flowers, and 
too picturesque in landscape scenery, to be hurried over 
at a breath. Passing the suburbs of the city, and the 
splendid gardens of Tacon, the road breaks out into 
the beautiful open country, threading its arrowy Avay 
through tha rich plantations and thriving farms, whose 
vegetable treasures of every description can scarcely be 
paralleled on the face of the earth. The farms which 
supply the markets of the city with their daily abund- 
ance of necessaries and luxuries, occupy the foreground 
of this lovely picture. They are separated from each 
other, sometimes by hedges of the fragrant white flow- 
ering lime, or the stifl" prim-looking aloe, (agave amer- 
icana^ armed on every side with pointed lances, and 
lifting their tall flowering stems, like grenadier sentinels 
with their bristling bayonets, in close array, full twenty 
feet into the air. Those who have not visited the tropics, 
can scarcely conceive the luxuriant and gigantic growth 
of their vegetable productions. These hedges, once 
planted, form as impenetrable a barrier as a wall of 
adamant, or a Macedonian phalanx ; and wo to the 
unmailed adventurer, who should attempt to scale or 
storm those self-armed and impregnable defences. 

Within these natural walls, clustered in the golden 
profusion of that favored clime, are often seen extensive 
groves of orange and pine apple, whose perennial ver- 
dure is ever relieved and blended with the fragrant blos- 
som — loading the air with its perfume, till the sense 
almost aches with its sweetness — and the luscious fruit, 
chasing each other in unfading beauty and inexhaus- 
tible fecundity, through an unbroken round of summers, 
that know neither spring time, nor decay. There is 



52 PLANTATIONS. 

nothing in nature more enchantingly wonderful to the 
eye than this perpetual blending of flower and fruit, of 
summer and harvest, of budding brilliant youth, full of 
hope and promise and gaiety, and mature ripe man- 
hood, laden with the golden treasures of hopes realized, 
and promises fulfilled. How rich must be the resources 
of the soil, that can sustain, without exhaustion, this 
lavish and unceasing expenditure of its nutritious ele- 
ments ! How vigorous and thrifty the vegetation, that 
never falters nor grows old, under this incessant and 
prodigal demand upon its vital energies ! 

It is so with all the varied products of those ardent 
climes. Crop follows crop, and harvest succeeds har- 
vest, in uninterrupted cycles of prolific beauty and 
abundance. The craving wants, the grasping avarice 
of man alone exceeds the unbounded liberality of 
nature's free grifts. 

The coflee and sugar plantations, chequering the 
beautiful valleys, and stretching far up into the bosom 
of the verdant hills, are equally picturesque and beau- 
tiful with the farms we have just passed. They are, 
indeed, farms on a more extended scale, limited to one 
species of lucrative culture. The geometrical regularity 
of the fields, laid out in uniform squares, though not in 
itself beautiful to the eye, is not disagreeable as a vari- 
ety, set oflf as it is by the luxuriant growth and verdure 
of the cane, and diversified with clumps of pines and 
oranges, or colonnades of towering palms. The low and 
evenly trimmed coffee plants, set in close and regular 
columns, with avenues of mangoes, palms, oranges, or 
pines, leading back to the cool and shady mansion of 
the proprietor, surrounded with its village of thatched 



FORESTS AND BIRDS. 53 

huts laid out in a perfect square, and buried in over- 
shadowing trees, form a complete picture of oriental 
wealth and luxury, with its painful but inseparable con- 
trast of slavery and wretchedness. 

The gorgeous tints of many of the forest flowers, and 
the yet more gorgeous plumage of the birds, that fill 
the groves sometimes with melody delightful to the ear, 
and sometimes with notes of harshest discord, fill the 
eye with a continual sense of wonder and delight. 
Here the glarmg scarlet flamingo, drawn up as in battle 
array on the plain, and there the gaudy parrot, glitter- 
ing in every variety of brilliant hue, like a gay bouquet 
of clustered flowers amid the trees, or the delicate, 
irised, spirit-like humming birds, flitting, like animated 
flowerets from blossom to blossom, and coqueting with 
the fairest and sweetest, as if rose-hearts were only 
made to furnish honey-dew for their dainty taste — what 
can exceed the fairy splendor of such a scene ! 

But roads will have an end, especially when every 
rod of the way is replete with all that can gratify the 
eye, and regale the sense, of the traveller. The forty- 
five miles of travel that take you to Guiness, traversing 
about four-fifths of the breadth of the island, appear, to 
one unaccustomed to a ride through such garden-like 
scenery, quite too short and too easily accomplislied ; 
and you arrive at the terminus, while you are yet 
dreaming of the midway station, looking back, rather 
than forward, and lingering in unsatisfied delight among 
the fields and groves that have skirted the way. 

San Julian de los Guiness is a village of about twen- 
ty-five hundred inhabitants, and one of the pleasantest 
in the interior of the Island. It is a place of considera- 



54 THE VALLEY OF GUINESS. 

ble resort for invalids, and has many advantages over 
the more exposed places near the northern shore. The 
houses in the village are neat and comfortable. The 
hotel is one of the best in the island. The church is 
large, built in the form of a cross, with a square tower 
painted blue. Its architecture is rude, and as unattrac- 
tive as the fanciful color of its tower. 

The valley, or rather the plain of Guiness, is a rich 
and well watered bottom, shut in on three sides by 
mountain walls, and extending between them quite down 
to the sea, a distance of nearly twenty miles. It is, per- 
haps, the richest district in the island, and in the highest 
state of cultivation. It is sprinkled all over with cattle 
and vegetable farms, and coffee and sugar estates, of 
immense value, whose otherwise monotonous surface is 
beautifully relieved by clusters, groves, and avenues of 
stately palms, and flowering oranges, mangoes and 
pines, giving to the whole the aspect of a highly culti- 
vated garden. 

I have dwelt longer upon the description of Guiness, 
and the route to it, because it will serve, as it respects 
the scenery, and the general face of the country, as a 
pattern for several other routes ; the choice of which is 
open to the stranger, in quest of health, or a temporary 
refuge from the business and bustle of the city. 

One of these is Buena Esperanza, the coiTee estate of 
Dr. Finlay, near Alquizar, and about forty miles from 
Havana. One half of this distance is reached in about 
two hours, in the cars. The remainder is performed in 
volantes^ passing through the pleasant villages of Beju- 
cal, San Antonio, and Alquizar, and embracing a view 
of some of the most beautiful portions of Cuba. Lim- 



HINTS TO INVALIDS. 55 

onar, a small village, embosomed in a lovely valley, a 
few miles from Matanzas — Madruga, with its sulphur 
springs, four leagues from Guiness — Cardenas — Villa 
Clara — San Diego — and many other equally beautiful 
and interesting places, will claim the attention, and 
divide the choice of the traveller. 

An intelligent writer remarks that, " with the con- 
stantly increasing facilities for moving from one part of 
this island to the other, the extension and improvement 
of the houses of entertainment in the vicinity of Ha- 
vana, and the gaiety and bustle of the city itself during 
the winter months, great inducements are held out to 
visit this ' queen of the Antilles ;' and perhaps the time 
is not far distant, when Havana may become the winter 
Saratoga of the numerous travellers from the United 
States, in search either of health or recreation." He 
then proceeds to suggest, what must be obvious to any 
reflecting and observing mind, that those whose cases 
are really critical and doubtful, should always remain at 
home, where attendance and comforts can be procured, 
which money cannot purchase. To leave home and 
friends in the last stages of a lingering consumption, 
for example, and hope to renew, in a foreign clime and 
among strangers, the exhausted energies of a system, 
whose foundations have been sapped, and its vital func- 
tions destroyed, is but little better than madness. In 
such cases, the change of climate rarely does the patient 
any good, and particularly if accompanied with the 
usual advice — to " use the fruits freely." Those, how- 
ever, who are but slightly affected, who require no extra 
attention and nursing, but simply the benefit a favora- 
ble climate, co-operating with their own prudence in 



66 DR. BARTON. 

diet and exercise, and who are willing to abide by the 
advice of an intelligent physician on the spot, may visit 
Cuba with confidence, nay, with positive assurance, that 
a complete cure will be effected. This is the easiest, 
and, in most cases, the cheapest course that can be pur- 
sued, in the earlier stages of bronchial affections. 

As a lover of my species, and particularly of my 
countrymen, so many of whom have occasion to resort 
to blander climates, to guard against the insidious 
inroads of consumption, I cannot leave this subject, 
without making use of my privilege, as a writer, to say 
a word of an eminent physician, residing in Havana, 
who enjoys an exalted and deserved reputation in the 
treatment of pulmonary diseases. I refer to Dr. Barton, 
a gentleman whose name is dear, not only to the many 
patients, whom, under providence, he has restored from 
the verge of the grave, but to as numerous a circle of 
devoted friends, as the most ambitious affection could 
desire. His skill a? a physician is not the only quality, 
that renders him peculiarly fitted to occupy the station, 
where providence has placed him. His kindness of 
heart, his urbanity of manners, his soothing attentions, 
his quick perception of those thousand nameless deli- 
cacies, which, in the relation of physician and patient, 
more than any other on earth, are continually occuring, 
give him a pre-eminent claim to the confidence and 
regard of all who are brought within the sphere of his 
professional influence. To tlie stranger, visiting a for^ 
eign clime in quest of health, far from home and friends, 
this is peculiarly important. And to all such, I can say 
with the fullest confidence, they will find in him al 



SPLENDORS OF A TROPICAL SKY. 57 

that they could desire in the most affectionate father, or 
the most devoted brother. 

In the interior of the island, I observed that the moon 
displays a far greater radiance than in higher latitudes. 
To such a degree is this true, that reading by its light 
was discovered to be quite practicable ; and, in its 
absence, the brilliancy of the Milky Way, and the 
planet Venus, which glitters with so effulgent a beam 
as to cast a shade from surrounding objects, supply, to 
a considerable extent, the want of it. These effects 
are undoubtedly produced by the clearness of the atmos- 
phere, and, perhaps, somewhat increased by the altitude. 
The same peculiarities have been observed, in an infe- 
rior degree, upon the higher ranges of the Alleghany 
mountains, and in many other elevated situations, 
where, far above the dust and mists of the lower world, 
celestial objects are seen with a clearer eye, as well as 
through a more transparent medium. 

In this region, the traveller from the north is also at 
liberty to gaze, as it were, upon an unknown firmament, 
contemplating stars that he has never before been per- 
mitted to see. The scattered NebulsB in the vast expanse 
above — the grouping of stars of the first magnitude, and 
the opening of new constellations to the view, invest 
with a peculiar interest the first view of the southern 
sky. The great Humboldt observed it with deep emo- 
tion, and described it, as one appropriately affected by 
its novel beauty. Other voyagers have done the same, 
till the impression has become almost universal, among 
those who have not " crossed the line," that the south- 
ern constellations are, in themselves, more brilliant, and 
more beautifully grouped, than those of the northern 



58 THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 

hemisphere. In prose and poetry alike, this illusion 
has been often sanctioned by the testimony of great 
names. But it is an illusion still, to be accounted for 
only by the natural effect of novelty upon a sensitive 
mind, and an ardent imagination. The denizen of the 
south is equally affected by the superior wonders of the 
northern sky, and expatiates with poetic rapture upon 
the glories which, having become familiar to our eyes, 
are less admired than they should be. 

If any exception should be made to the above remarks, 
it should be only with reference to the Southern Cross, 
which, regarded with a somewhat superstitious venera- 
tion by the inhabitants of these beautiful regions, as an 
emblem of their faith, is seen in all its glory, shedding 
its soft, rich light upon the rolling spheres, elevating the 
thoughts and affections of the heart, and leading the 
soul far beyond those brilliant orbs of the material hea- 
vens, to the contemplation of that " Hope, which we 
have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast." 

It would be an easy task to enlarge upon the won- 
ders of the sky, but how shall man describe the works 
of Him "whomaketh Arcturus, Orion, Pleiades, and 
the Chambers of the South 7 " 



CHAPTER lY. 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE ISLAND OF CUBA, ITS CITIES, TOWNS, 
RESOURCES, GOVERNMENT, ETC. 

Its political importance. — Coveted by the Nations. — National 
Robbery and Injustice. — Climate of Cuba. — Its Forests and 
Fruits. — Its great staples, Sugar and Coffee. — Copper mines. 
■ — Population. — Extent and surface. — Principal cities. — Ma- 
tanzas. — Cardenas. — Puerto del Principe. — Santiago deCuba. 
— Bayamo. — Trinidad de Cuba. — Espiritu Santo. — Govern- 
ment of the Island. — Count Villa Nueva. — Character and 
Services of Tacon. — Commerce of Cuba. — Relations to the 
United States. — Our causes of complaint. — The ti'ue interests 
of Cuba. — State of Education. — Discovery and early history 
of the Island. 

Cuba is the largest, richest, most flourishing, and most 
important of the West India Islands. In a political 
point of view, its importance cannot be rated too high. 
Its geographical position, its immense resources, the 
peculiar situation, impregnable strength, and capacious 
harbor of its capital, give to it the complete command 
of the whole Gulf of Mexico, to which it is the key. 
It is certainly an anomaly in the political history of the 
world, that so weak a power as that of Spain, should 
be allowed to hold so important a post, by the all-grasp- 



60 CUBA COVETED. 

ing, ambitious thrones of Europe — to say nothing of 
the United States, where decided symptoms of relation- 
ship to old England begin to appear. It has often been 
found easy, where no just cause of quarrel exists, to make 
one ; and it is a matter of marvel that the same pro- 
found wisdom and far-reaching benevolence, that found 
means to justify an aggressive war upon China, because, 
in the simplicity of her semi-barbarism, she would not 
consent to have the untold millions of her children 
drugged to death with English opium — cannot now 
make slavery, or the slave trade, or piracy, or something 
else of the kind, a divinely sanctioned apology for 
pouncing upon Cuba. That she has long coveted it, 
and often laid plots to secure it, there is no doubt. That 
it would be the richest jewel in her crown, and help 
greatly to lessen the enormous burdens under which 
her tax-ridden population is groaning, there can be no 
question. But, the science of politics is deep and full 
of mysteries. It has many problems which even time 
cannot solve. 

And then, as to these United States — ^liow conve- 
niently might Cuba be annexed ! How nicely it would 
hook on to the spoon-bill of Florida, and protect the 
passage to our southern metropolis, and the trade of the 
Gulf We can claim it by an excellent logic, on the 
ground that it was once bound closely to Florida, the 
celebrated de Soto being governor of both ; and Spain 
had no more right to separate them, in the sale and ces- 
sion of Florida, than she or her provinces had, after- 
wards, to separate Texas from Louisiana. It is a good 
principle in national politics, to take an ell where an inch 
is given, especially when the giver is too weak to resist 



CLIMATE FORESTS. 61 

the encroachment — and it has been so often practised 
upon, that there is scarcely a nation on earth that can 
consistently gainsay it. The annexation fever is up 
now, and I suggest the propriety of taking all we intend 
to, or all we want, at a sweep — lest the people should 
grow conscientious, and conclude to respect the rights 
of their weaker neighbors. 

But, to be serious, let us take warning from the past, 
and learn to be just, and moderate, in order that we may 
be prosperous and happy. The epitaph of more than 
one of the republics of antiquity, might be written thus 
— ruit sua mole. 

Much as has been said, and that with great justice 
and propriety, of the delightful climate of Cuba, it is 
subject to no inconsiderable changes, and the invalid, 
who resorts thither in quest of health, must be on his 
guard against those changes. The "wet northers," 
that sometimes sweep down upon the coast, are often 
quite too severe for a delicate constitution to bear ; and 
a retreat to the interior becomes necessary. During the 
prevalence of these winds, the southern side of the 
island is the favorite resort. Fortunately, these chilly 
visitors are few and far between, seldom continuing more 
than three or four days, with as many hours of rain. 
In the absence of these, the climate is as perfect as 
heart can desire, resembling, for the most part, that of 
the south of France. 

Notwithstanding the large tracts of cultivated plan- 
tations and farms, which make this beautiful island a 
perfect garden, it has extensive forests of great beauty 
and value. The palm, whether found in clusters or 
alone, is always a magnificent tree, and is useful for a 

6 



62 PRODUCTIONS AND POPULATION. 

variety of purposes — its trunk for building, its leaves 
for thatching, and several kinds of convenient manu- 
factures, and its seeds for food. Mahogany abounds in 
some parts, and other kinds of hard wood suitable for 
ship building, a business which has been carried on very 
extensively in the island. The vine attains to a luxu- 
riant growth, so as often to destoy the largest trees in its 
parasitical embrace. The orange and the pine-apple, 
both of a delicious flavor, abound on all sides. Indian 
corn, the sweet potatoe, rice, and a great variety of 
other important edibles are extensively cultivated, giving 
wealth to some, and sustenance to thousands. 

The great staples of Cuba, however, and the princi- 
ple sources of her immense wealth, are sugar and coffee. 
These are produced in the greatest abundance. The 
annual exports amount to about six hundred and fifty 
millions pounds of sugar, and eighty-four millions of 
coffee. The exports of tobacco are about ten millions 
pounds in the leaf, besides three hundred and ten mil- 
lions of manufactured cigars. There are also large 
exports of molasses, honey, wax, etc. 

There are copper mines of great value in the south 
east part of the island, in the neighborhood of Santiago. 
They were worked a long time, but for some reason 
were abandoned for more than a century. More recently 
they have been re-opened, and are now esteemed the 
richest copper mines in the world. They are worked 
principally by an English company, and the ore is sent 
to England to be smelted. The annual amount is not 
far from a million and a half of quintals. 

The whole population of Cuba is estimated at a little 
over a million, 420,000 whites, 440,000 slaves, and 



EXTENT — PRINCIPAL CITIES. 63 

I5O5OOO free colored persons. The annual revenue of 
the island, obtained from heavy taxes upon the sales of 
every species of property, and from duties export as 
well as import, is twelve millions of dollars. This is 
all drawn from its 420,000 whites, averaging nearly 
thirty dollars a head. Of this amount, but very little 
is expended in the island, except for the purpose of 
holding the people in subjection. Four millions go into 
the coffers of the mother country. 

The island of Cuba is nearly eight hundred miles in 
length, from east to west, varying in breadth from 
twenty-five to one hundred and thirty miles Its coast 
is very irregular, deeply indented with bays and inlets, 
and surrounded with numerous islands and reefs, mak- 
ing a difficult and dangerous navigation. It has many 
excellent harbors, that of Havana being, as has already 
been said, one of the best in the world. A range of 
mountains, rising into the region of perpetual barrenness, 
traverses the entire length of the island, dividing it into 
two unequal parts, the area of the southern portion 
being rather the larger of the two. There are also 
many other isolated mountain peaks and lofty hills, in 
different parts of the island, some of them beautifully 
wooded to their very summits, and others craggy, bar- 
ren, precipitious, and full of dark caverns and frightful 
ravines. 

The principal places, after Havana, are Matanzas^ 
Cardenas, Puerto del Principe, Santiago, St. Salvador, 
Trinidad, and Espiritu Santo. Besides these there are 
some half a dozen smaller cities, twelve considerable 
towns, and about two hundred villages. The principal 
seaports are all strongly fortified. 



64 MATANZAS — CARDENAS. 

Matanzas is situated on the northern shore, about 
sixty miles east of the capital. It contains, including 
its suburbs, about twenty thousand inhabitants, of 
whom rather more than half are whites, and about one 
sixth are free blacks. It commands the resources of a 
rich and extensive valley, and its exports of coffee, 
sugar, and molasses, are very large. The bay of 
Matanzas is deep and broad, and is defended by the 
castle of San Severino. The harbor at the head of this 
bay, is curiously protected against the swell of the sea, 
during the prevalence of the north-east winds, by a 
ledge of rocks extending nearly across it, leaving a 
narrow channel on each side, for the admission of ves- 
sels. The city is built upon a low point of land between 
two small rivers, which empty themselves into the bay, 
and from which so heavy a deposit of mud has been 
made, as materially to lessen the capacity of the har- 
bor. The anchorage ground for vessels is, consequently, 
about half a mile from the shore, and cargoes are dis- 
charged and received by means of lighters. 

Cardenas is comparatively a new place, the first set- 
tlement having been made less than twenty years ago. 
It now numbers about two thousand inhabitants. It is 
finely situated at the head of a beautiful bay, fifty miles 
eastward of Matanzas. This bay was once a famous 
resort for pirates, who, secure from observation, or 
winked at by the well-feed officials, brought in the ves- 
sels they had seized, drove them ashore on the rocks, 
and then claimed their cargoes as wreckers, the mur- 
dered crews not being able to claim even a salvage for 
their rightful owners. In the exhibition of scenes like 
this, the bay of Cardenas was not alone, or singular. 



PRINCIPE— SANTIAGO. 65 

Many an over-hanging clifl^ and dark inlet of that 
blood-stained shore, could tell a similar tale. 

The rail-road from this place to Bemba, eighteeen 
miles distant, passes through a beautiful tract of coun- 
try, and affords to the traveller a view of some of the 
most picturesque scenery that is to be found in the 
island. 

Owing to its fine harbor, and its facilities of commu- 
nication with the rich tract of country lying behind it, 
this place will become a formidable rival to Matanzas, 
when its port shall be thrown open ta foreign commerce. 
At present, there is no custom house here, and all the 
produce is transported in lighters to Matanzas or Hava- 
na, to be sold. It has not depth of water for the largest 
class of vessels, but the greater part of those usually 
employed in the West India trade, can be well accom- 
modated. 

Puerto del Principe, situated in the interior of the 
island, about midway between its northern and southern 
shores, and more than four hundred miles eastward 
from Havana, contains a population of twenty-four 
thousand — fourteen thousand being whites, and about 
six thousand slaves. This district is celebrated for the 
excellent flavor of its cigars. It is a place of consid- 
erable importance, and the residence of a lieutenant- 
governor. 

Santiago de Cuba, is on the southern coast, about one 
hundred miles from the eastern extremity of the island, 
and nearly seven hundred south-east of Havana. Its 
popoulation is twenty-five thousand, of whom nearly 
ten thousand are whites, and eight thousand slaves. It 
has a fine, capacious harbor, scarcely second to that of 



66 BAYAMO — TRINIDAD — ESPIRITU SANTO. 

Havana, and strongly defended by a castle, and several 
inferior batteries. It has a large trade in sugar, coffee, 
and molasses. About twelve miles from the city, west- 
ward, is the town of Santiago del Pr!ide, near which 
the rich copper mines, before mentioned, are situated, 
giving employment in one way or another, to nearly all 
of its two thousand inhabitants. 

Bayamo, or St. Salvador, — sixty miles west of San- 
tiago, numbers nearly ten thousand souls. Manzanilla, 
thirty miles south from this, has three thousand. 

Trinidad de Cuba, two hundred miles further west, 
and about two hundred and fifty from Havana, has a 
population of thirteen thousand, of whom six thousand 
are whites, and four thousand five hundred, free colored. 

Espiritu Santo, thirty-five miles eastward from Trin- 
idad, has less than ten thousand inhabitants in the city, 
and thirty-four thousand in the whole district, of whom 
twenty-two thousand are whites, a very unusual propor- 
tion in these islands. 

In their general features, in the style of the buildings, 
in the character of the people, their occupations, modes 
of living, customs of society, etc., etc., all these places 
bear a close resemblance to each other, varying only in 
location, and the lay of the land, and the forms of the 
rivers and bays about them. 

The government of Cuba is a military despotism, 
whose edicts are enforced by an armed body of more 
than twelve thousand soldiers. The Captain General 
is appointed by the crown of Spain, and is a kind of 
vice-roy, exercising the functions of commander-in-chief 
of the army, Governor of the western province of the 
island, President of the provincial assembly, etc. The 



GOVERNMENT. 67 

present incum'bent, Don Leopold O'Donnell, enjoys a 
great, share of popularity. He holds no civil jurisdic- 
tion over the eastern province, of which Santiago is the 
capital. The governor of that province is entirely in- 
dependent of the Captain General, except in military 
matters, and is amenable only to the court of Madrid. 

The Intendente, Count Yilla Nueva, recently re-in- 
stated in that office, is said to be very desirous to ame- 
liorate the burdens of the planting interest ; and in his 
efforts to secure this result, he has evinced the good 
sense and prudence, which are usually followed with 
success. His integrity and talents, together with the 
fact that he is the only " native" who was ever exalted 
to high official rank, have secured for him the un- 
bounded confidence and affection of the people. His 
power is distinct from that of the Governor, and is in 
no way dependent upon it. He exercises certain legal 
rights, such as the entire control of the imports and 
exports, and is, in fact, the sole manager of all the 
financial concern^ of the colony. By this arrangement, 
the purse and the sword are entirely separated, and the 
dangers to be apprehended from the abuse of power, 
greatly diminished. 

No attempt to illustrate the position, resources, and 
character of Cuba, at the present time, would do justice 
to its subject, or to the feelings of its author, without an 
honorable and grateful mention of the name of Tacon. 
And no one who has visited the island, or who feels any 
interest in its welfare, or any regard for the lives and 
fortunes of those who hold commercial intercourse with 
its inhabitants, can withhold from the memory of that 
truly great and good man, the well-earned tribute of 



68 SERVICES OF TACON. 

admiration and gratitude. He was a rare example of 
wisdom and benevolence, firmness and moderation, and 
seems to have been raised up by Providence, and qual- 
ified for the peculiar exigency of his time. He has, no 
doubt, been eminently useful in other stations in his 
native land ; else he would never have been known to 
his monarch, as fitted for the difficult task assigned him 
here. But, if he had never acted any other part on the 
stage of life — if the term of his public and private use- 
fulness had been limited to the brief period of his chief 
magistracy in Cuba, he had won a fame nobler than 
that of princes, fairer, worthier, and more enduring 
than that of the proudest conquerors earth ever saw. 
The memorial of such a man can never be found in 
marble, or in epitaph. It is written in the prosperity of 
a people, and of the nations with whom they hold com- 
mercial intercourse. It lives, and should for ever Hve, in 
the gratitude, admiration and reverence of mankind. 

When General Tacon was appointed Governor Gen- 
eral of Cuba, Havana was literally a den of thieves, 
a nursery of the foulest crimes, a school where the 
blackest conceptions of which the human heart is 
capable, and the most diabolical inventions of mischief, 
were not only seen to escape punishment, but were 
officially tolerated and encouraged. A spirit of venal- 
ity and almost incredible corruption prevailed in the 
judicial and financial departments ; and the subaltern 
magistrates, if not actual partakers, by receiving their 
share of the booty, connived at every variety of rob- 
bery and plunder. No natural or civil rights were 
regarded — no one's life or property was held sacrjd. 
Murders in the open street, and under the broad liaze 



CHANGE EFFECTED. 69 

of a sunlit sky, were fearlessly committed ; slaves and 
pirates miblushingly perambulated the streets, discus- 
sing their fiendish machinations, and perpetrating 
deeds of darkness, over which humanity should weep. 
Specie transported from one part of the city to another, 
required the protection of an armed force. Such was 
the aspect, and such the lamentable state of affairs, 
both public and private, in Havana, at the time that 
Tacon came into power. The measures adopted by him 
for the introduction of order and the purification of the 
whole political system, were no less wise and judicious, 
than his fearlessness, promptness and perserverance in 
enforcing them, were deserving of the highest com- 
mendation. His labors were truly Herculean, and his 
success in cleansing this Augean stable most signal. 

During his elevation to power, which continued four 
years, the aspect of things in Havana was completely 
changed. Order supplanted confusion, and whole- 
some authority succeeded to anarchy and misrule. 
Individuals became secure in the possession of life 
and property ; strangers and foreigners no longer felt 
themselves surrounded by lawless bandits, and com- 
pelled, by the absence of law, order and discipline, to 
take the law into their own hands, or abandon, at the 
first appearance of violence, the protection of their 
rights, property and life. The man who formerly 
walked abroad in Havana, was forced to feel, and 
to act accordingly : that " his hand was against every 
man, and every man's against him." 

This Solon of Cuba was the originator and promoter 
of most of the principal improvements which now 
adorn the city and surrounding country, many of 



70 COMMERCE WITH THE UNITED STATES. 

which bear his name. This bloodless revolution was 
accomplished without any additional public expense 
or burdensome tax upon the people, by a wise adminis- 
tration and righteous application of the ordinary re- 
sources of the government. Such, and more, were the 
blessings bestowed upon Cuba by Tacon. Such are 
the glorious results of the public career of one whose 
highest ambition and whose proudest aim seemed to 
be, the elevation of his countrymen — the welfare, secu- 
rity and happiness of mankind. As we honor and 
revere the names of Washington and La Fayette, so 
should the dwellers on that island ever love and cherish 
the name of the illustrious Tacon. At the expiration 
of four years, he voluntarily retired to Spain, and was 
succeeded in the government by General Espeleta. 
" May the shadow of Tacon never be less ;" or, as they 
say in his own native tongue, " viva listed milchos 
dnos.^^ 

The commerce of Cuba is with the world ; yet its 
importance as a trading mart is chiefly realized by its 
nearest neighbor, the United States. Its annual imports 
and exports, which nearly balance each other, amount 
to about twenty-five millions of dollars each. Of the 
imports, during the last year, which may be taken as a 
fair average, it received five millions two hundred and 
forty thousand dollars, or more than one-fifth, from the 
United States. Of the exports, during the same period, 
we received nine millions nine hundred and thirty 
thousand dollars, within a fraction of two-fifths. In 
addition to this, its commerce with the different ports 
of Europe, South America, and other parts of the world, 
furnished profitable freights to a large number of our 



THE TRUE INTERESTS OF CUBA. 71 

carrying ships, and employment to our hardy seamen. 
We are in duty bound, therefore, to regard this minia- 
ture continent, hanging on our southern border, with a 
favorable eye, and to c^iltivate with it the most neigh- 
borly relations. 

It is true, we have had some cause of complaint in 
our intercourse hitherto, and we may not soon look for 
its entire removal. The imposts upon our productions 
are severe and disproportionate, the port-charges oner- 
ous, and the incidental exactions unreasonable and 
vexatious. We are often subjected to frivolous delays, 
and unjust impositions, in the adjustment of difficulties at 
the custom house, and in the recovery of debts in the 
courts of law. We have also, in times past, been severe 
sufferers from the depredations of well known and almost 
licensed pirates, who, in open day, and under the walls 
of the castle, have plundered our property, and butchered 
our seamen. Still, with all the offsets which the most 
ingenious grumbler could array, we owe much to the 
'^ Queen of the Antilles," and might have more occa- 
sion for regret, than for gratulation, should she ever be 
transferred to the crown of England, or annexed to the 
territories of the United States. If her people were 
prepared for self-government — if the incongruous ele- 
ments of society there could, by any possibility, amal- 
gamate and harmonize, the establishment of an inde- 
pendent government would doubtless promote her own 
happiness, and benefit us and the world. The luxu- 
riant plains, and valleys, and hill-sides of this beautiful 
isle, have capacities amply sufficient to sustain a popu- 
lation ten times as large as that which it now contains. 
Burdened, and almost crushed under the weight of 



72 STATE OF EDUCATION. 

their own taxes, ruled with a rod of iron, and held 
in almost slavish subjection by the bristling bayonets 
of a mercenary foreign soldiery, who, under the pre- 
tence of defending them from invasion or insurrection, 
eat out their substance, and rivet their chains — the mil- 
lion who now reside there, with the exception of a few 
overgrown estates among the planters and merchants, 
find, for the most part, a miserable subsistence. There 
is probably no class of people in any portion of the 
United States, so miserably poor and degraded, as the 
mass of the Monteros and free blacks of Cuba. Give 
them a fostering government, and free institutions, 
educate them, make men of them, and throw wide open 
to all the avenues to comfort, wealth and distinction — - 
and there is no spot on the face of the globe that would 
sustain a denser population than this. 

The exports from the United States to Cuba consist 
of lumber of various kinds, codfish, rice, bacon, lard, 
candles, butter, cheese. The first two articles are 
almost exclusively from the Northern States, the third 
from the Southern, the remainder from all. The im- 
ports hence are of all the productiwis of the island. 

The cause of education in this lovely land is lament- 
ably low. In the large cities and towns, respectable 
provision is made for the wants of the young in this 
respect. The Royal University at Havana, embracing 
among its advantages, schools of medicine and law, 
offers very considerable facilities to the industrious stu- 
dent. There are also several other lesser institutions 
in the city, with schools, public and private, for teach- 
ing the elementary branches of a common education. 
Some of these are tolerably well sustained ; but the 



LOW CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 73 

range they aiford, and the talent they command, is 
comparatively so limited, that most of those who are 
able to bear the expense, prefer sending their sons to 
the United States or Europe, to complete their educa- 
tion. 

No other place in the island is so well provided in 
this respect as the capital. Arrangements are made, in 
most of the towns and interior districts, for gratuitous 
instruction. In some cases, this provision is wholly 
inadequate. In others, it is regarded with indifference 
by the class for whose benefit it is designed. Their 
abject poverty and destitution of the common comforts 
of life, seems to cramp all their energies, and dishearten 
them from any attempt to better the condition of their 
children. And, indeed, under their present civil and 
political institutions, but few advances could be made, 
even if the people Avere ambitious to improve. For the 
government, like all despotisms, is jealous of the intel- 
ligence of its subjects, well knowing that a reading, 
thinking people must and will be free. 

Cuba was the fifth of the great discoveries of Colum- 
bus, and by far the most important of the islands he 
visited. San Salvador, Conception, Exuma and Isa- 
bella, which he had already seen and named, were 
comparatively small and of little note, though so rich 
and beautiful, that they seemed to the delighted imagi- 
nation of the discoverer, the archipelago of Paradise, 
or the " islands of the blest." It is very remarkable, 
that, though he skirted the whole of the southern, and 
more than half the northern coast of Cuba, following 
its windings and indentations more than twelve hun- 
dred miles, till he was fully convinced that it was a 

7 



74 EARLY HISTORY OF CUBA. 

part of a great continent, and not an island ; yet he 
made no attempt to occupy it, or to plant a colony 
there. It was not even visited during his life-time, and 
he died in the full conviction that it was not an island. 
He gave it the name of Juana, in honor of the young 
prince John, heir to the crowns of Castile and Leon. 
It afterwards received the name of Fernandina, by order 
of the king in whose name it was occupied and held. 
But the original designation of the natives finally pre- 
vailed over both the Spanish ones, which were long 
since laid aside. It is understood to be derived from 
the Indian name of a tree, which abounded in the 
island. 

In 1511, about five years after the death of Colum- 
bus, his son and successor, Diego, in the hope of obtain- 
ing large quantities of gold, which was then growing' 
scarce in Hispaniola, sent Don Diego Yelasquez, aii 
experienced and able commander, of high rank and 
fortune, to take possession of Cuba. Panfilo de Na^- 
vaez was the second in command in this expeditioi\. 
The names of both these knights are conspicuous in^ 
the subsequent history of Spanish discovery and con- 
quest, in the islands, and on the continent, but more 
especially in their relation to Cortes, the great conqueror 
of Mexico. 

The inhabitants of Cuba, like those of Hispaniola, 
and some of the other islands, Avere a peaceful effemi- 
nate race, having no knoAvledge of the arts of war, and 
fearing and reverencing the Spaniards as a superior 
race of beings descended from above. They submitted, 
without opposition, to the yoke imposed upon them. It 
was for the most part, a bloodless conquest, yielding 



STORY OF HATUEY. 75 

few laurels to the proud spirits who conducted it, but 
rich in the spoils of spiritual warfare to the kind- 
hearted and devoted Las Casas, subsequently Bishop of 
Chiapa, who accompanied the army in all its marches, 
the messenger of peace and salvation to the subjugated 
indians. According to the record of this good father, 
the indefatigable missionary of the cross, only one 
chief residing on the eastern part of the island, offered 
any resistance to the invaders ; and he was not a native, 
but an emigrant from Hispaniola, whence he had 
recently escaped, with a few followers, from the cruel 
oppression of their new masters, to find repose on the 
peaceful shores of Cuba. Alarmed and excited by the 
appearance of the Spanish ships approaching his new 
found retreat, Hatuey called his men together, and in 
an eloquent an animated speech,- urged them to a des- 
perate resistance, in defence of their homes and their 
liberty. With scornful irony, he assured them that 
they would not be able successfully to defend them- 
selves, if they did not first propitiate the god of their 
their enemies. " Behold him here," said he, pointing to 
a vessel filled with gold, " behold the mighty divinity, 
whom the white man adores, in whose service he rava- 
ges our country, enslaves us, our wives and our chil- 
dren, and destroys our lives at his pleasure. Behold 
the god of your cruel enemies, and invoke his aid to 
resist them." After some slight ceremonies of invoca- 
tion, in imitation of the rites of Christian worship, 
which they had learned from their oppressors, they cast 
the gold into the sea, that the Spaniards might not 
quarrel about it, and prepared for their defence. They 
fought desperately, resolved rather to die in battle, than 



76 THE ISLAND DEPOPULATED. 

submit to the cruel domination of the invaders. They 
were nearly all destroyed. The Cacique Hatuey was 
taken prisoner, and condemned to be burned alive, in 
order to strike terror into the minds of the other chiefs 
and their people. In vain did the benevolent mission- 
ary protest against the cruel, unchristian sacrifice. He 
labored diligently to convert the poor cacique to the 
Christian faith, urging him most affectionately to receive 
baptism, as the indispensable requisite for admission to 
heaven. His reply is one of the most eloquent and 
bitterly taunting invectives on record. Enquiring if the 
white men would go to heaven, and being answered in 
the affirmative, he replied — " then I will not be a chris- 
tian, for I would not willingly go where I should find 
men so cruel." He then met his death with heroic for- 
titude, or rather with that stoical indifference, which is 
a common characteristic of the aborigines of America ; 
preferring even a death of torture to a life of servitude, 
especially under the hated Spaniards, who had shown 
themselves as incapable of gratitude, as they were des- 
titute of pity, and the most common principles of justice. 
The army met with no further opposition. The 
whole island submitted quietly to their sway, and the 
unresisting inhabitants toiled, and died, and wasted 
away under the withering hand of oppression. It is 
probable, from all accounts, that the population, at the 
time of the conquest, was nearly, if not quite as great, 
as it is at the present time ; though some of the Spanish 
chroniclers, to cover the cruelty of so dreadful a sacri- 
fice, greatly redvice the estimate. Whatever were their 
numbers, however, they disappeared like flowers before 
the chilling blasts of winter. Unaccustomed to any 



THE GIBRALTAR OF AMERICA. 77 

kind of labor, they fainted under the heavy exactions 
of their cruel and avaricious task-masters. Diseases, 
hitherto unknown among them, were introduced by 
their intercourse with the strangers ; and, in a few 
years, their fair and beautiful inheritance was depopu- 
lated, and left to the undisputed possession of the mer- 
ciless intruders. 

In four years after the subjugation, Yelasques had 
laid the foundation of seven cities, the sites of which 
were so well selected, that they still remain the princi- 
pal places in the colony, with the exception of Havana, 
which was originally located on the southern shore, 
near Batabano, but afterwards abandoned on account 
of its supposed unhealthiness. Its present site, then 
called the port of Carenas, was selected and occupied in 
1519. 

So much has been said of the impregnable strength 
of Havana, that I shall venture, at some risk of repeti- 
tion, as well of being out of place with my remarks, to 
say a few words more on that point. The position of 
the Moro, the Cabanas, and the fortress on the opposite 
eminence, has been sufficiently illustrated. I know not 
that any thing could be added to these fortifications, to 
make them more perfect, in any respect, than they are. 
They confer upon Havana a just claim to be called, as 
it has been, " The Gibraltar of America." In effecting 
this, nature has combined with art, in a beautiful and 
masterly manner, so that the stranger is struck, at the 
first glance, .with the immense strength of the place, 
and the thought of surprising or storming it, would 
seem to be little short of madness. 

But let it be remembered that the impregnable Gib- 



78 IS HAVANA IMPREGNABLE? 

raltar was successfully attacked, and is now in posses- 
sion of the conquerors. The inaccessible heights of 
Abraham were scaled in a night, and (Quebec still 
remains to show what seeming impossibilities courage 
and skill united can achieve. 

With the exception of the Moro, all the great fortifi- 
cations at Havana, are of comparatively recent construc- 
tion. They have been erected since the memorable 
seige of 1762, when, after one of the most desperate 
and sanguinary conflicts on record, the English fleet 
and army succeeded in capturing the city. The Span- 
iards say, that the final and successful sortie was made 
in the afternoon, while their generals was taking their 
siesta — a cover for the shame of defeat, about as trans- 
parent as that of the Roman sentinels at the tomb of 
Christ, whom the wily priests induced to declare, that 
" his disciples stole him away while they slept." There 
is no question, however, that, notwithstanding the great 
strength of this place, and its entire safety from any 
attack by sea, it could be assailed with eflect, by the 
landing of efficient forces in the rear, in the same man- 
ner as these other places, just mentioned, were taken, 
and as the French have recently succeeded in capturing 
Algiers. 



. CHAPTER y. 

DEPARTURE FROM HAVANA. THE GULF OF MEXICO. ^ARRIVAL 

AT VERA CRUZ. 

The Steamer Dee. — Running down the coast. — Beautiful scenery. 
— Associations awakened by it. — Columbus. — The scenes of 
his glorious achievements. — The island groups. — The shores 
of the continent. — " The Columbian sea." — Disappointments 
and sufferings, the common inheritance of genius. — Cervantes, 
Hylander, Camoens, Tasso. — These waters rich in historical 
incidents. — Revolutions. — Arrival at Vera Cruz. — The Peak 
of Orizaba. — Description of Vera Cruz. — Churches. — The 
Port. — San Juan de Ulloa. — Scarcity of Water. — The sub- 
urbs. — Population. — Yellow Fever. 

The British Royal mail steamer Dee, arriving at Ha- 
vana on one of her regular circuits, presented a very- 
favorable opportunity to gratify a disposition for change. 
Accordingly, on the 10th of February, I embarked on 
board of her, with the intention of touching at Vera 
Cruz, and thence proceeding to Tampico, and such 
other interesting points as my time and health would 
allow. 

The " Dee" is one of a Line of Steamers, built by a 
company in London, to carry the mails, which are 
placed in charge of an officer, acting under the direc- 



80 RUNNING DOWN THE COAST. 

tion of the British government. This company receives 
from the government, two hundred and fifty thousand 
pounds annually. The vessels average about one thou- 
sand tons each, and are so built as to be readily altered 
into men-of-war, should they be required to strengthen 
the EngHsh naval power. The Dee consumes about 
thirty-five tons of coal per day. Her average speed, 
however, under the most favorable circumstances, does 
not exceed eight and a half knots an hour. She is 
commanded by a sailing master of the British navy, 
whose salary is about fifteen hundred dollars per 
annum. She has been in service only two years, but 
has the appearance of being a much older vessel ; a 
circumstance caused no doubt by the " retrenchments" 
consequent upon the unlimited extravagance of the 
company's first outfit. Her so-called " accommodations" 
were very inferior, and the table was miserably fur- 
nished, but the service of plate, emblazoned with heraldic 
designs, was, unquestionably, beautiful. 

We steamed out of the harbor at sunrise, the ever 
wakeful Moro looking sternly down upon us as Ave 
passed under its frowning battlements ; and, being 
favored with delightful weather, skirted the coast as far 
as we could, and took our departure from Cape Antonio. 

Nothing can exceed the beauty and sublimity of the 
natural scenery thus presented to our view, between 
Havana and the point of the Cape. The broad rich 
plains, the gentle slopes, the luxuriant swells, the hills 
clothed with verdure to their very crowns, the lofty 
mountains with their abrupt and craggy prominences 
and ever changing forms, make up a landscape of the 
richest and rarest kind, beautiful in all its parts, and 



ASSOCIATIONS. 81 

exceedingly picturesque in its general effect. The hills, 
with highly cultivated plantations, extending from the 
lovely valleys below, in beautiful order and luxuriance, 
far up towards their forest-crowned summits, looked 
green and inviting, as if full of cool grottos and shady 
retreats ; while the far-off mountains where 

" Distance lent enchantment to the view," 

seemed traversed with dark ravines and gloomy cav- 
erns, fit abodes for those hordes of merciless banditti, 
whose predatory achievements have given to the shores 
and mountain passes of Cuba, an unenviable pre-emi- 
nence in outlawry. 

The motion of our oaken leviathan, sweeping heavily 
along through the quiet sea, created a long, low swell, 
which, like a miniature tide, rose gently upon the 
resounding shore, washing its moss-covered bank, and 
momentarily disturbing the echoes that lingered in its 
voiceless caves. It was painful to feel that I was leav- 
ing those beautiful shores, never, in all probability, to 
revisit them. A gloomy feeling took possession of my 
soul, as if parting again, and for ever, from the shores 
of my early home. Then came up, thronging upon the 
memory and the fancy, a multitude of historical asso- 
ciations, suggested by the land before me, and the sea 
on whose bosom I was borne — associations of the most 
thrilling and painful interest, and yet so wonderfully 
arrayed in the gorgeous drapery of romance, that I 
would not, if I could, dismiss them. 

Albeit, then, I may be in imminent danger of running 
into vain repetitions, in giving indulgence to the melan- 
choly humor of the hour, I cannot refrain from follow- 



82 THE ISLAND GROUPS. 

ing out, in this place, where a clear sky and an open 
sea leave me no better employment, some of those re- 
flections, which, if indulged in at all, might, perhaps, 
with equal appropriateness have found a place in one 
of the previous chapters. With Cuba, one of the earliest, 
and the most important of the great discoveries of 
Columbus, behind me — the shores of Central America, 
the scene of his last and greatest labors in the cause of 
science, before me — and the wide expanse of sea, 
which witnessed all his toils, and sufferings, around me 
on every side — how could I do otherwise than recall to 
mind all that he had accomplished, and all that he had 
endured, in this region of his wonderful adventures ! 
Here was the grand arena of his more than heroic vic- 
tories, the theatre of his proud triumph over the two 
great obstacles, which, in all ages have opposed the 
march of mind — -the obstinate bigotry of the ignorant, 
and the still more obstinate ignorance of the learned. 

Behind me, far away toward the rising sun, was the 
little island of San Salvador, where the New World, in 
all its elysian beauty, its virgin loveliness, burst upon 
his view. Conception, Fernandina, and Isabella, the 
bright enchanting beacons rising out of the bosom of 
the deep, to guide his eager prow to Cuba, the " Q.ueen 
of the Antilles," were there too, slumbering on the outer 
verge of the coral beds of the Bahamas. Nearer, and 
full in view, its mountain peaks towering to the skies, 
and stretching its long arm nearly three hundred 
leagues away toward the south-east, lay the beautiful 
island I had just left, the richest jewel of the ocean, the 
brightest gem in the crown of Spain. Farther on in 
the same direction, and dimly descried from the eastern 



THE SHORES OF THE CONTINENT. 83 

promontories of Cuba, were the lofty peaks of St. Do- 
mingo, beautifully flanked by Porto Rico on the right, 
and Jamaica on the left. Then, farther still, sweeping in 
a graceful curve toward the outermost angle of the South- 
ern continent, and completing the emerald chain, which 
nature has so beautifully thrown across the broad chasm 
that divides tlie eastern shores of the two Americas, lay 
the windward cluster of the Caribbean islands, terminat- 
ing with Trinidad, in the very bosom of the Gulf of Paria. 
Returning westward, along the coast of Paria, where 
Columbus first actually saw the continent, and travers- 
ing the whole extent of the Caribbean Sea, you might 
reach the shores of Honduras, where he again touched 
the shores of the continent, and finished, amid the in- 
firmities of age, and the sufi'erings consequent upon a 
life of toil, hardship and exposure, his great achieve- 
ment of discovery, his career of usefulness and glory. 

Coming northward, toward the point whither we 
were then tending, and rounding Cape Catoche into the 
Gulf of Mexico, you would behold the true Eldorado 
which they all sought for, and which the brave Cortes 
afterwards found — the golden mountains and golden 
cities of Anahuac. Northward still, some two hundred 
leagues, the " Father of rivers " pours his mighty cur- 
rent into the bosom of the Gulf, after watering and 
draining the richest and broadest valleys in the world, 
and linking together, by its various and extended 
branches, the mighty fraternity of republics, spread over 
the vast territories of the North. 

I pity the man, whoever he may be, and of whatever 
nation, who can visit these islands, or traverse these 
seas, for the first time, without feeling as if he were 



84 THE COLUMBIAN SEA. 

treading on enchanted ground. Every country, every 
sea has its pecuhar history, and its pecuhar associa- 
tions. There is much to interest the heart, and inflame 
the imagination in the dark legends of the Indian archi- 
pelago — in the classic memories and time-hallowed 
monuments of the " Isles of Greece," and of the shores 
and bays, the mountains and streams of all the coun- 
tries bordering on the Mediterranean — in the rock- 
bound coast of the North Sea — in the basaltic columns 
and gigantic caverns of the Emerald Isle ; — but they 
do not, in my view, either or all of them, surpass, in 
the deep interest and moral grandeur of the associations 
they awaken, the shores that then surrounded me — the 
American Isthmus, and the American archipelago. 

The American archipelago ! — the Mediterranean of 
the Western World, with its beautiful clusters of mag- 
nificent islands — why not call it, as Bradford long ago 
suggested. The Columbian Sea ? Surely, if the 
Florentine merchant has been permitted to rob the great 
Genoese discoverer of the honor of conferring his own 
illustrious name upon the two vast continents, which 
his genius and perseverance brought to light, while the 
whole world has quietly sanctioned the larceny — we, 
who know the equity of his claims, and feel how 
shamefully he has been abused, might at least do him 
the tardy justice to affix his name, in perpetuo, to this 
sea, which, by universal acknowledgment, he was the 
first to traverse and explore — the scene of his glorious 
triumph over the narrow and ignorant prejudices of his 
day, as well as of his romantic adventures, toils and 
sufferings. 

What must have been the emotions of Columbus 



THE COMMON LOT OF GENIUS. 85 

when he first traversed these waters, and beheld these 
lovely islands ! For, even now, with the mind already 
prepared by the full and elaborate descriptions of geo- 
graphers and travellers, they are beheld by the voyager, 
for the first time, with sensations of surprise and de- 
light. The objects of wonder with which he and his 
crew were surrounded — the variation of the compass, 
the regularity of the winds, and other phenomena, of 
the existence of which they could not possibly have 
been apprised, must have been truly exciting. Think 
of his astonishment on landing, to find myriads of peo- 
ple, disposed to regard him and his adventurous crew, 
as beings of a superior order, whom they were almost 
ready to adore. And then, pray that the veil of ob- 
livion may be thrown over the fiendish requital which, 
in after years, succeeded this hospitable reception. 

It is any thing but agreeable to a generous heart, to 
witness or contemplate the strivings of a noble mind, 
with the cares and anxieties of life, having some mag- 
nificent project in view, but hindered from carrying it 
forward, by the stern demand of a starving household, 
or the want of that golden lever, which, with or without 
a place to stand upon, has power to move the world. 
With but few exceptions, it has ever been the case, that 
men of genius have struggled with adversity, — 

Have felt the influence of malignant star, 
And waged with fortune an eternal war. 

Fortune seldom smiles upon the sons of science. Karely, 
indeed, does she condescend to become the companion 
of genius. It was not until Columbus had touched the 
master passion of his royal patrons, that he could induce 

8 



86 SUFFERINGS OF THE TRULY GREAT. 

them to grant him assistance. When he had convinced 
the king of the great pecuniary advantage to be derived 
to the crown from his enterprise, and the queen of the 
vast accessions to the holy church, in bringing new- 
territories under her sway, and converting nations of 
heathen to the christian faith, — then, and not till then, 
did they consent to favor his expedition. Absorbed 
with their one idea of planting the standards of Castile 
and of the Cross on the marble palaces of the Alham- 
bra, they had no time to consider, no treasure to sus- 
tain, such magnificent schemes of discovery. Should 
Columbus be succored, when Cervantes, suffered and 
hungered for bread? "Was it not the cold treatment 
Cervantes received, that wrung from his subdued spirit 
the humiliating complaint, that " the greatest advantage 
which princes possess above other men, is that of being 
attended by servants as great as themselves?" But 
why should we seek out, dwell upon, and hold up to 
the execration of the world, these instances of royal lit- 
tleness, injustice, and ingratitude, when the world is, 
and always has been, full of such exhibitions of human 
nature ? Was not Hylander compelled to sell his notes 
on Dion Casseus for a dinner 7 Did not Camoens, the 
solitary pride of Portugal, — he who after his death was 
honored by the appellation of "^Ae great J'' — beg for 
bread ? Has not a Tasso from the depths of his pov- 
erty, besought his cat to assist him with the lustre of 
her eyes, that he might pen his immortal verse ? Yes, — 
and one simple story would tell the fate of a Homer, 
Ariosto, Dryden, Spenser, Le Sage, Milton, Sydenham, 
and a mighty host of others, who, after having spent 
their lives in the cause of letters, and of hmuan advance- 



DEEPLY INTERESTING ASSOCIATIONS. 87 

ment and liberty, were neglected by their countrymen, 
and suffered to die in obscurity, if not in poverty and 
want ! 

The Columbian Sea ! divided by the projecting pen- 
insulse of Yucatan and Florida, and the far-stretching 
walls of Cuba and Hispaniola, into two great sections, 
the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico — how full 
of interest, historical and romantic, how curious, how 
wonderful in many of the phenomena it exhibits ! 
Here is the inexhaustible fountain head of that inexpli- 
cable mystery of nature, the Gulf Stream, which, with- 
out any visible adequate supply, throws its mighty cur- 
rent of calid water, thousands of miles across the cold 
Atlantic. Here European civilization, and European 
depotism first planted its foot in the elysian fields of the 
west. Here the dreadful work of subjugation, and 
extermination commenced a work, which, in three brief 
centuries, under the banners, too, of the Prince of 
Peace, and in the name of Christianity, has blotted from 
the face of the earth a mighty family of populous 
nations, some of them far advanced in civilization and 
refinement, leaving only here and there a scattered and 
almost exhausted tribe, bending under the yoke of sla- 
very, or flying before the continual encroachments of 
the white man. 

It is difficult to say to which quarter of this sea one 
should turn, in order to gather up the incidents and 
associations, which shall most deeply touch the heart, 
and excite the imagination. On the east, these beautiful, 
luxuriant islands, the first seen and visited, where the 
great, the noble, the generous-hearted discoverer was 
received as a god by the simple and hospitable natives, 



88 SHORES OF THE COLUMBIAN SEA. 

and afterwards calumniated, oppressed, deserted by his 
friends, and left by his envious foes to pine a whole 
year on the shores of Jamaica, with no shelter but the 
wreck of his last vessel — where too he was shamefully 
imprisoned, and then sent home in chains, deprived of 
his honors and his rights. On the west, the golden 
regions of Mexico, where the Montezumas reigned with 
a degree of splendor rivalling the most brilliant dynas- 
ties of the Old World — where civilization, and the arts 
of refinement, were enjoyed to a degree unknown to 
many of the most powerful nations of antiquity — where 
pyramids, temples, and palaces, whose extent and mag- 
nificence might have vied with those of Egypt and 
Syria, still remain in ruins to attest the departed glory 
of the Astec races — and where the marvellous, the 
scarcely credible adventures of Cortes, and his little 
band of brave invaders, brought desolation and wo on 
all that sunny region. On the south, the great conti- 
nent, the scene of similar adventures — the theatre of 
oppression, of civil discord, of revolution, of a perpetual 
struggle for power, but, it may be hoped, ere long of 
republican liberty. On the north — what shall I say — 
the fairest and best portion of the wide earth — the home 
of liberty — the home of our fathers — in a word, which 
contains a depth of meaning that belongs to no other 
in any language — home ! 

How wonderfully have these shores changed hands 
and masters, since the day when Columbus gave tliem 
all to Spain. What has she now left ? The entire 
continent of South America, the golden regions of the 
Isthmus, the broad savannahs of Florida, and tlie 
boundless prairies of the great west, have all been 



WONDERFUL CHANGES. 89 

wrested from her iron and oppressive rule. And, of all 
that rich cluster of islands, that lie along the eastern 
boundary of this great sea — only Cuba and Porto Rico 
now acknowledge her sway. How bitterly the wrongs 
she inflicted upon the hapless natives of these fair 
lands, have recoiled upon her own head, and upon the 
heads of all her representatives in the New World. 
Scarcely for one moment have they held any of their ill- 
gotten possessions in peace. Revolt and revolution have 
swept over them in quick succession, like the Sirocco 
of the desert, burying millions of merciless oppressors in 
the same graves with the millions of the oppressed. 
Anarchy, confusion, bloodshed, and civil discord and 
commotion, have been the lot of their inheritance. And 
even to this day, except in the islands above named, 
wherever the Spanish race remains in the ascendancy, 
the seat of its power is, as it were, the crater of a vol- 
cano, where society, no less than the earth, heaves and 
groans and trembles with the throes of inward convul- 
sion. Look yonder, as we near the shores of Mexico. 
Clouds of dust and smoke — the thunders of artillery, 
the falling of successive dynasties, mingle with the ter- 
rible din of the earthquake, and the sulphureous belch- 
ings of subterraneous fires, and send up their angry 
shouts, and voices of wailing to the skies, till the 
whole civilized world is disturbed by their incessant 
broils. How long shall it be ? When shall this land 
have rest ? When shall the curse of war, which has 
been laid upon it for so many centuries, be revoked 1 
Heaven speed the day. 

There are some features which have been noticed 
by voyagers, as peculiar to these waters. Whether they 



90 ARRIVAL AT VERA CRUZ. 

do not belong to inland seas, and to bays and gulfs 
generally, my personal observation does not enable me 
to determine. The color of the water is a less decided 
blue than that of the ocean. This phenomenon I am 
at a loss to explain, having always supposed that the 
color of the sea was only the reflection of the azure 
depths of the sky, and that, consequently, in the clear 
atmosphere, and the deep blue heavens, of the tropics, 
it would show a deeper tinge of cerulean than else- 
where. 

It is also remarked that there is seldom known here, 
the long equable swell, and gentle undulation, of the 
open ocean, but a short pitchy sea, which, in small 
craft, is very disagreeable, but is less noticeable in the 
larger class of vessels. The gulf is subject to period- 
ical calms in the summer, and to violent gales from the 
north in the autumnal months. Of the Chapote, an 
asphaltic ebullition on the surface of the sea, I shall 
speak more fully in another place, in connection with 
a similar phenomenon observed in the lakes of Mexico. 

We arrived at Yera Cruz on the 15th of February. 
The voyage proved agreeable — especially to those of 
our party who were subject to sea-sickness, and Avho 
could therefore well appreciate their entire freedom from 
the unpalatable, and often ludicrous effects produced by 
the unceremonious movement of the waves, when un- 
controlled by the irresistible agency of steam. Indeed, 
we all felt strongly convinced, that steam navigation is 
the ne j)lus ultra of travelling at sea. 

Long before we made the land, the grand and lofty 
peak of Orizaba, with its spotless mantle of eternal 
snow, rearing its hoary head seventeen thousand feet 



SAN JUAN DE ULLOA. 91 

above us, presented itself to our view. The highest 
ranges of the Alleghanies, and the lofty summits of the 
Catskill, of my own country, were familiar to my boy- 
ish days — but, I was little prepared to behold a scene 
like this — a scene which caused the wonders of my 
childhood to dwindle almost into nothing. Art, with 
all her charms, may, and often does, disappoint us — 
but Nature, never. The conception of Him who laid 
the foundations of the mountains, cannot be approached 
even by the most aspiring flight of the imagination. 




CASTLE OP SAN JUAN DE UX-LOA. 



The first object that strikes the eye, in approaching 
Yera Cruz by water, is the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa, 
with the spires and domes of the churches peering up 
in the distance behind it. It stands alone, upon a small 
rocky island, on one side of the main entrance to the 
harbor, and only about half a mile from the wall of the 
city, and consequently has complete command of the 
port. The entrance on the other side, is so barred with 



92 THE HARBOR AND THE CITY. 

broken reefs and ledges, that it can only be used by- 
small craft in favorable weather. 

The Castle is circular, strongly built, and heavily 
mounted. Its principal strength, however, is in its 
position, inaccessible except by water, and its guns 
pointing every way, leave no side open to the attack 
of an enemy. It has never been reduced but once, and 
then its natural ally, the city, was against it. The sea 
was in the hands of its enemies, and all communica- 
tion with the outer world was cut off. It held out 
bravely while its provisions lasted, and then yielded to 
famine, and not to arms. This was in 1829, during the 
last dying struggles of Spain to hold on to her revolted 
provinces in Central America. 

Our pilot brought us to anchor in the harbor, or 
roadstead, under the walls of this celebrated old castle, 
and within a few rods of the landing. An unexpected 
visit from a '• Norther," gave me an opportunity which 
would not otherwise have presented itself, of paying my 
respects to the town. 

" Vera Cruz Triunfante," the Heroic City, as it is 
styled in all public documents, in consequence of the 
prowess of its citizens in taking the Castle San Juan 
de Ulloa, which, as above stated, surrendered from 
starvation, lies in a low, sandy shore ; and, like all 
American Spanish towns, has few attractions for the 
stranger, either in its general appearance, or in the style 
of its architecture. The town is laid out with grea.t 
regularity. The streets are broad and straight, at right 
angles with each other, and are well paved, which, un- 
fortunately, is more than can be said of many of the 
paved cities in the United States. The side-walks are 



HOUSES AND CHURCHES. 93 

covered with cement, and are altogether superior to 
those of Havana. The houses are generally well con- 
structed to suit the climate. Many of them are large, 
some three stories high, huilt in the old Spanish or 
Moorish style, and generally enclosing a square court- 
yard, with covered galleries. They have flat roofs, and 
parti-colored awnings, displaying beneath the latter a 
profusion of flowers. 

The best view of Vera Cruz is from the water. 
There are, within and outside the walls, seventeen 
church establishments, the domes or cupolas of which 
may be seen in approaching it from that direction, with 
quite an imposing effect. The port is easy of access, 
but very insecure, being open to the north, and conse- 
quently subject to the terrible " northers," which, in 
more senses than one, during the winter season, prove 
a scourge to this coast. It is well defended by a strong 
fort, situated on a rock of the island of St. Juan de 
Ulloa, about half a mile distant. The name of this 
island, and the castle upon it, are associated with 
some of the most terrible scenes of blood and cruelty, 
that have given to the many revolutionary struggles of 
that ill-fated country, an unenviable pre-eminence 
of horror. 

The form of the city is semi-circular, fronting the 
sea. It is situated on an arid plain, surrounded by sand 
hills, and is very badly supplied with water, — the chief 
reliance being upon rain collected in cisterns, which are 
often so poorly constructed as to answer but very little 
purpose. The chief resource of the lower classes, is 
the water of a ditch, so impure as frequently to occa- 
sion disease. An attempt was made, more than a cen- 



94 SUBURBS — POPULATION. 

tury ago, to remedy this evil, by the construction of a 
stone aqueduct from the river Xamapa ; but, unfortu- 
nately, after a very large sum had been expended on 
the work, it was discovered that the engineer who pro- 
jected it, had committed a fatal mistake, in not ascer- 
taining the true level, and the work was abandoned in 
despair. 

The outside of the city looks solitary and miserable 
enough. The ruins of deserted dwelling houses, dilap- 
idated public edifices, neglected agriculture, and streets, 
once populous and busy, now still and overgrown with 
weeds, give an air of melancholy to the scene, which it 
is absolutely distressing to look upon, and which the 
drillings of the soldiery, and " all the pomp and circum- 
stance " of warlike parade, were insufficient to dispel. 

The population of this place is now about six thou- 
sand. In 1842, two thousand died of black vomit, the 
greater portion of whom were the poor, half-enslaved 
Indians, brought from their healthy mountain homes, to 
serve as soldiers on the deadly coast. This dreadful 
scourge made its appearance on the continent of Amer- 
ica, in 1699, where it was introduced by an English 
ship from the coast of Africa, loaded with slaves; 
inflicting upon the country, at the same instant, two of 
the greatest curses which the arch-enemy of our race 
could have devised. The infectious disease we cannot 
lay to the charge of England. It was one of those 
accidents which can only be referred to the mysterious 
visitations of that all- wise, but inscrutable providence, 
which rules over all the affairs of our little w^orld. But 
for the other, and not less hideous evil, the introduction 
of slavery, that Government is directly responsible ; 



HEALTH EARLY HISTORY. 96 

and, however high and noble the principles of benevo- 
lence, by which the present race of Englishmen are 
actuated in their endeavors to procure universal eman- 
cipation", it ill becomes them to reproach us, or our 
fathers, for the existence of a curse among us, which 
their own government forced upon us, and their own 
fathers supplied and sustained, with a zeal and perse- 
verance worthy of a better cause. Ages of penance 
and contrition, will not wipe out this dark stain from 
the British escutcheon. 

Yera Cruz is more subject to the yellow fever, than 
perhaps any other place on the coast. This is chiefly 
owing to the filthy ditch before spoken of, from which 
the lower classes are compelled to obtain a part of their 
supply of water, and to the pools of stagnant water, 
which abound among the sand hills in the vicinity. If 
these could be drained off, and the city supplied with 
wholesome water, there can be no doubt it would fare 
as well in the matter of health, as any other place on 
the coast, instead of being regarded, as it is now, by 
the Spanish physicians, as the source and fountain-head 
of yellow fever for the whole country. There is scarcely 
any season of the year exempt from its ravages, but it 
prevails most in the rainy season, particularly in Sep- 
tember and October. 

The history of Yera Cmz, as a place of importance 
to the Spaniards, commences with the very first steps 
of the conquest. The name of San Juan de Ulloa, 
was given to the island where the Castle now stands, 
by Grijalva, on his pioneer visit to the place, in 1518, 
where he was so roughly handled by the " natives." 
Cortes, after touching at Cozumel, made a landing at 



96 OLD AND NEW TOWNS. 

this place, in 1519. He afterwards laid the foundation 
of a colony in the vicinity, at the mouth of the river 
Antigua. It was from this point that he set out on his 
adventurous march to the capital of the Astec empire — 
an adventure seemingly the most rash and ill advised, 
but in its results, the most triumphant, in the annals of 
history. 

The present site of Yera Cruz, which was founded 
by Count de Monterey, near the close of the sixteenth 
century, and is sometimes, by way of distinction, called 
Vera Cruz Nueva, is not the same as that of the ancient 
city, planted by Cortes. That was situated fifteen 
miles to the north from the city of our day, and was 
called " La Yilla Rica de la Vera Cruz " — The rich 
town of the true cross. The harbor of the old town is 
far better than that of the new, which, in fact, is no 
harbor at all, but an open roadsted, exposed to every 
blast from the north. No good reason has been assigned 
for the removal. One historian has suggested that it 
was owing to the unhealthiness of the old town. If 
so, it is no mean illustration of the sagacity of the 
unfortunate fish, that, in attempting to escape his inev- 
itable fate, "jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire." 



CHAPTER TI. 

SANTA ANNA DE TAMAULIPAS, AND ITS VICINITY. 

The old and new towns. — The French Hotel. — Early history 
of the place. — Remains of an ancient Indian town. — Situa- 
tion of Pueblo Nuevo. — Health of the place. — Commerce. — 
Smuggling. — Corruption in Pubhc Offices. — Letters and 
Mails. — Architecture. — Expense of living. — Tone of morals. 
Gaming. — The soldiery. — Degraded condition of the Indians. 
— The Cargadores. — The market place. — Monument to Santa 
Anna.— The Bluff. — Pueblo Yiejo. — Visit to the ruins. — 
Desolate appearance of the place. — " La Fuente." — Return 
at sunset. — The Rancheros of Mexico. — The Arrieros. 

On the 17th of February, we bade adieu to Yera Cruz, 
and sailed along the coast, northwardly, for Tampico, 
distant over two hundred miles. The passage was a 
very favorable one ; and we arrived at our destination 
on the evening of the following day. Coming to 
anchor outside the bar, a launch from the shore, man- 
ned by naked Indians, was soon at our service, to take 
us up to the city. It was a pull of six miles on the 
river Panuco. On our way up, we passed Pueblo Viejo, 
or the old town of Tampico, on our left, once a place 
of considerable trade, but now deserted, and compara- 
tively in ruins. Two miles above this place, we landed 

9 



98 EARLY HISTORY OP TAMPICO. 

at the mole, as it is called, where our luggage under- 
went the usual vexatious examinations ; after which, 
permission was given us to enter the town of Santa 
Anna de Tamaulipas, known also as the Pueblo Nuevo, 
or New Town of Tampico. 

I was soon ensconced in a hotel, kept by a French- 
man. It was a sad place. The accommodations, if such 
a word can, with any propriety, be used in reference 
to such a house, were as uninviting as could be desired. 
The house was, in all respects, uncomfortable and 
dirty, and the charges $2, 50 per day. But a shelter, in 
this country, though a poor one, is something to be 
thankful for ; and, in the almost universal absence of 
comfort, one often has occasion to be grateful for any 
thing that bears a distant resemblance to it. With this 
kind of philosophy, I endeavored to console myself in 
the present instance, remembering that my situation was 
not quite as bad as it might be, nor indeed as it often- 
times had been in other places. 

Santa Anna de Tamaulipas stands on what was 
once the site of a populous Indian town, which was 
first visited by Juan de Grijalva, in 1518. This '' hope- 
ful young man and well behaved," as he is described 
by one of the old historians, Avas the captain of the 
second expedition, sent from Cuba, to explore the large 
and rich islands, as they were then supposed to be, 
lying to the Avest, part of which were discovered by 
Columbus in 1502 and 1503, and part by Juan Dias de 
Solis and Yincent Yanez Pinzon, in 1506. At this 
place, Grijalva had a severe conflict with the " natives," 
who defended " their altars and their homes " with great 
bravery. The old historians of the conquest agree that 



SITUATION HEALTH. 99 

Cortes, who followed Grijalva, and finally succeeded in 
reducing the whole country to the Spanish yoke, met 
with a warm reception on the Panuco. Few places 
were more ably defended, or more relunctantly sur- 
rendered by the Indians. 

But few traces remain of the ancient city, or of its 
brave inhabitants. Yet occasionally, in digging for the 
foundations of buildings recently erected, the bones, and 
sometimes complete skeletons, of that unfortunate race 
are found, as well as remains of their household utensils. 

Fifteen years ago, this place was occupied only by 
a few Indian huts, and Pueblo Yiejo, the old town, was 
in its most flourishing condition. But the superior ad- 
vantages of this position were too apparent to be longer 
overlooked by the searching eye of commercial enter- 
prise. The bank of the river is very bold, and the 
water of sufficient depth to allow vessels to anchor 
close to the shore ; and the navigation inland is unin- 
terrupted for more than a hundred miles. The town is 
laid out in regular squares. The site is a sort of low 
flat shelf of land, forming the terminus of a rocky 
peninsula, above and back of which there is a cluster 
of lakes or ponds, having an outlet into the Panuco. 
These ponds, like those in the vicinity of Vera Cruz, 
are fruitful of yellow fever, which annually ravages 
this devoted coast. This terrible scourge, which seems 
to be one of the settled perquisites of the place, together 
with the formidable bar at the mouth of the river, are 
serious drawbacks to the prosperity of the town. Were 
it possible to remove them, I think there is little doubt 
that Santa Anna de Tamaulipas would soon become one 
of the most flourishing seaport towns in Mexico. Its 



100 COMMERCE SMUGGLING* 

local situation is favorable — it is the nearest point on 
the coast to the richest of the mining districts, and the 
place from which the greater portion of the specie is 
exported. It has also a considerable business in dye- 
woods and hides. 

But the commerce of Santa Anna de Tamaulipas 
has been declining for several years, and, unless some 
new impulse is given to it, by some such improvements 
as are above suggested, it must continue to decline. 
The little business that is now done there, is chiefly in 
the hands of foreigners. 

Smuggling was once carried on here to a very great 
extent ; but the severe and stringent regulations of the 
government, have nearly succeeded in breaking it up. 
Or, to speak with more perfect accuracy, the business 
has changed hands, and that, which was before done 
through the venality of the subordinates, is now carried 
on by the direct connivance of the heads of the de- 
partments, who have contrived to monopolize to them- 
selves this lucrative traffic, and thus, by robbing the 
government, to enrich themselves and the merchants at 
the same time. There is probably no country in the 
world, where there is such utter destitution of good 
faith and common honesty, on the part of those who 
contrive to secure the offices of trust. It is a remark 
of almost universal application, though it will probably 
apply with peculiar emphasis to the custom house 
department, where the largest amount of spoils are 
necessarily to be found. The most glaring cases of 
fraud are constantly occurring. Thousands of dollars 
are weekly passed over to the officials, which never 
find their way into the treasury ; and thousands that 



FOREIGN LETTERS^MAILS. 101 

have gone in are missing, having never honestly found 
their way out. But little attention is paid to these 
instances of corruption. The criminals, though well 
known, are allowed to retain their stations ; or, if by 
chance removed, through the complaints of those who 
are eager to step into their places, they are only ele- 
vated to niore important and lucrative offices, where 
they have a wider field of operation, and a better 
chance to serve themselves, and those who appointed 
them. How far we of the United States may be 
placing ourselves in the condition of those who live in 
glass houses, by thus throwing stones at the Mexicans, 
I know not. But it is my candid opinion, shrewd and 
cunning as we are allowed to be in all matters of 
finance, that we are quite out-done in these matters by 
our more southern neighbors. 

Letters arriving or departing by ship, cannot be de- 
livered, without first passing through the Post Office. 
The charges, which are very high, are regulated by 
weight, as under the new system in the United States. 
No captain, or consignee, is permitted to receive a let- 
ter, without the government stamp, under a heavy 
penalty. Whether the same restriction and penalty is 
laid upon passengers and travellers, I am not informed ; 
but it would be very difficult to carry them without 
observation, as every nook and corner of every trunk, 
box, or bag, is searched, as well as the linings of every 
article of dress, and even of your boots and shoes. All 
letters are liable to seizure and inspection, and they are 
often broken, when any cause of jealousy or suspicion 
arises. The ordinary mails in the northern part of the 
country, are more regular than rapid, being, for the 



102 BUILDINGS TONE OF MORALS. 

most part, transported on the backs of the Indians. Of 
course, neither money, nor valuable documents of any 
kind, are entrusted to this conveyance. An armed con- 
ducta performs this service between the mines and 
the capital, and between the capital and the principal 
seaports. 

In the buildings of Santa Anna de Tamaulipas, there 
is no uniformity of style, and no pretensions to beauty. 
American, English, and Spanish, are intermingled with 
the rude hut of the Indian. The population is as mot- 
ley and heterogeneous as can well be conceived ; and 
with the variety of feature, expression, manners, cos- 
tume and no costume, ranks under what may be termed 
the jpicturesque. 

Notwithstanding the gradual decline of business 
here, rents and wages are extremely high, and the 
prices paid for every article of consumption are so enor- 
mous, that I should scarcely be believed if I should 
name them. And this, too, among a beggarly-looking, 
half-naked population. The average range of the ther- 
mometer is from 86° to 92°. 

As might be expected, from what has been said 
already, the general tone of morals in society is by no 
means elevated. The native, or Creole population, are, 
for the most part, shamefully ignorant and debased, 
and, with few exceptions, destitute of moral principle. 
They are extremely jealous of foreigners, and seem to 
regard every stranger coming among them as an un- 
welcome intruder. As far as I had an opportunity of 
judging, Avhich was not inconsiderable, I should say 
that, as a race, they are as destitute of ambition to im- 
prove, as they are of education. There is no taste 



GAMBLING ALMOST UNIVERSAL. 103 

among them for the cultivation of the fine arts, which 
once flourished in this ill-fated country ; whether among 
the remote ancestors of the present Indian tribes, or 
among other and nobler races of men, it is not easy 
now to decide. 

The almost universal resource of the Creoles, is the 
gaming table, at which nvimbers of them spend a large 
portion of their time. In this miserable and demoral- 
izing recreation, I am sorry to be obliged to say, that 
the '' natives " are not the only sharers. Strangers, 
who resort here for business, whether English, Ameri- 
can, Spanish or French, with a few rare and honorable 
exceptions, sustain and encourage them by their exam- 
ple. Large amounts are sometimes lost and won, 
though, for the most part, the stakes are light ; the pas- 
sion being rather for gaming, and its attendant excite- 
ments, than for winning. 

The Indians, another and inferior class of natives, 
though nominally free, are in fact slaves. They are 
the drudges and bearers of burdens, for the whole com- 
munity. They are ignorant, indolent and unthrifty to 
the last degree, and seem to have no idea of the possi- 
bility of bettering their condition. Like their superiors, 
they are much addicted to gaming, though necessarily 
on a very limited scale. In their condition of desperate 
poverty, they have little to lose ; but that little is daily 
put at stake, and lost, or rather thrown away, with as 
much coolness and indiflerence, as if the inexhaustible 
mines of their golden mountains were all their own. 
And it not unfrequently happens, that, having lost his 
last maravedi, he stakes himself upon another throw, 
and becomes the temporary slave of the winner. The 



104 THE SOLDIERY. 

laws, though they do not recognize slaver^^ in the ab- 
stract, are so constructed, as to admit of this arrange- 
ment. The consequence is, that vast numbers, whom 
indolence or improvidence have reduced to the neces- 
sity of running in debt to their white neighbors, are as | 
truly slaves, as they were before the revolution. ' 

It is from the native Indians, that the rank and file ' 
of the Mexican army is, for the most part, supplied. A I 
greater burlesque upon the name of a soldier can scarcely < 
be conceived — a debased, insolent, drunken, half-naked 
rabble, in comparison with which Colonel Pluck's I 
famous regiment would have made a display so bril- ! 
liant, as to make all Philadelphia stare. It is a 
marvel to me how they can accomplish any thing with 
such a miserable set of ill-appointed, semi-civilized 
beings, especially, when their enlistment is for the most | 
part compulsory, while they fight for self-constituted, I 
tyrannical, unfeeling masters, and not for themselves, or i 
their children. I should suppose that a single company ' 
of well disciplined Anglo-Saxon soldiers, would be more \ 
than a match for an ordinary Mexican army. If it i 
was with such regiments as these, that Santa Anna ! 
undertook to reduce the refractory province of Texas, 
it is no matter of surprise that a handful of Yankee i 
adventurers were able, not only to keep him at bay, but , 
to put him, and his army of scarecrows, completely to > 
route. I 

The Indian, as I have before remarked, is the abject | 
slave of the Mexican; and upon him devol\^es eveiy , 
kind of menial labor. The " Cargadores," Avho act as | 
porters, are seen in all the streets. They cany the I 
heaviest burdens, such as bales, barrels, boxes, etc. | 



MARKET PLACE MONUMENT TO SANTA ANNA. 105 

upon their backs; dray and draft horses being un- 
known here. Others are seen in the market places, 
and lying about the public streets, houseless, and almost 
naked, objects at once of pity and disgust to those un- 
accustomed to such sights. No means are employed, 
and no desire manifested, on the part of their superiors, 
to improve their character or condition. Politically, the 
Mexican regards them as his equals, while he treats 
them far worse than even the English do their slaves, 
either at home or abroad. 

The Market Place of Tampico is a rude open square, 
without embellishment, natural or artificial, one corner 
of which is occupied with stalls or tables, for meats 
and vegetables, which are guarded and dealt out by as 
motley a set of beggars as I had ever seen, as uninvi- 
ting group of caterers as can well be imagined. The 
tarriers at home can little realize the many disagreeable 
offsets to the pleasure one derives from visiting foreign 
lands ; while the traveller learns, by a painful daily 
experience, to appreciate all the little conveniences and 
proprieties, as well as the thousand substantial comforts 
of home. 

In the centre of this square, a monument is to be 
erected in honor of the celebrated General Santa Anna, 
commemorating his successful encounter with the old 
Spanish forces, in this place, in the year 1829, during 
the last struggles of Mexico to throw off the yoke of 
Spain, and establish an independent government. The 
foundation of this monument is finished, and the 
builders are waiting the arrival of the column from 
New York, where, as I was informed, Italian artists are 
employed in completing it. It is intended to be worthy 



106 A NATIONAL DILEMMA. 

of the name of the distinguished man in whose honor 
it is reared, and of the event which it is designed to 
commemorate. How the two can be fitly blended in 
one inscription, it is difficult to conceive. The victory 
which Santa Anna achieved over the Spanish oppres- 
sors of the struggling province, may indeed have a 
claim to be recorded on the enduring marble ; but, for 
the honor due to a name like that of the exiled hero 
of San Jacinto, a name so long associated with every 
species of tyranny and oppression, of treason to his 
country, and of treachery alike to friend and to foe — 
how shall it be appropriately expressed? In what 
terms of mingled eulogium and execration shall it be 
couched? " The name and the event !" It will 
doubtless be an easy matter to frame an inscription 
suitable to the event — but to illustrate the glory of the 
name — hoc opus, his labor est. 

In a state of society like that which has existed in 
Mexico, for many years past, it would seem a difficult 
task to erect monuments to illustrate the services of 
their great men. Revolution succeeding revolution, 
and dynasty chasing dynasty, in rapid succession like 
the waves of the sea, a successful leader has scarcely 
time to reach the post his high ambition has aimed at, 
and procure a decree for a triumph and a monument, 
before a rival faction has obtained possession of all the 
outposts, and begins to thunder under the walls of the 
capital. One after another, they have risen, and fallen^ 
and passed away, some of them for ever, and some only 
to rise again with more rapid strides, and then to expe- 
rience a more ruinous fall, than before. The monument 
which was begun yesterday in honor of one successful 



THE BLUFF. 107 

hero, may, to-morrow, be consecrated to the victory won 
over him by his enemy ; and then, perhaps, be thrown 
down to give place to another, which commemorates the 
overthrow of both. 

How many times the government of Mexico is des- 
tined to be overturned and remodeled, before the com- 
pletion of the Tampico monument, and what will be 
the position of the man for whose honor it was origi- 
nally designed, when the column shall be ready to be 
placed on its pedestal, it would be hazardous to conjec- 
ture. It may not be unsafe, however, to predict, that 
neither this, nor any other column, or statue, erected in 
Mexico, will confer upon Santa Anna a greater noto- 
riety than he now enjoys, or in any way alter the 
world's estimate of his true character. Impartial his- 
tory has marred the beauty of many a monumental 
tablet, and converted that which was meant for glory, 
into a perpetual memorial of shame. 

A few yards from the Market place is a bold bluif of 
rock, fronting the Panuco, from the top of which we 
have an extensive view of the surrounding country. 
Near this place, the River Tamissee, which drains the 
adjacent lagoons, forms its junction with the Panuco, 
which sweeps gracefully along from the southwest, 
broken and diversified by a number of low wooded 
islands, which disturb, but beautify its course. 

On the opposite shore, at some distance, lies the 
lagoon of Pueblo Yiejo, and beyond that, but within 
sight from this bluff, the ruins of the old town, situated 
on a beautiful plateau, or table land, flanked by the 
spires of the Cordilleras. 

The low lands of the suburbs are filled with rude 



108 PEUBLO VIEJO. 

huts of the Indians, built chiefly of bamboo, and cov- 
ered with the palm-leaf. A more squalid state of misery 
than is exhibited among this class, both here and in the 
town, it has never fallen to my lot to witness. 

Not satisfied with this distant view of the ruins of 
the Pueblo Yiejo, I determined to form a nearer 
acquaintance with them, by a personal visit. The 
American Consul, and his accomplished lady, very 
kindly accompanied me thither, in a canoe, under the 
guidance of an Indian. We descended the Panuco a 
short distance, and passed into a bayou communicating 
with one of the great lagoons, near which the old town 
is situated. The locale is decidedly agreeable and pic- 
turesque. Though in the uplands, it lies at the foot of 
a steep and thickly wooded hill, which affords a variety 
of romantic retreats, and commanding look-outs for the 
surrounding country. But, however much they might 
have been improved and valued in former times, they 
are now deserted, and forgotten. An almost death-like 
tranquillity reigns in the forsaken streets and environs, 
forming a melancholy contrast to the half European, 
and comparatively bustling aspect of its now more 
prosperous rival. 

The houses are low-built, with flat roofs. The fa- 
cades of some of them show, in the faded gaiety, and 
dubious taste of their coloring, what they were in the 
palmy days of the Pueblo Viejo's early glory. Many 
of them had court-yards and porticos. One group 
of old buildings, of Spanish architecture, situated 
near the humble church that consecrated the pubHc 
square, shows many marks of its ancient grandeur, 
even in its present state of desolation and decay. 



LA FUENTE. 109 

It is painful to stroll through the streets of a city of our 
own times, once full of life and bustle, but now falling 
into the decrepitude of a premature old age. It is like 
walking among the sepulchres of the living ; and the 
few signs of life that remain, only serve to give inten- 
sity to the shadows of night that are deepening around 
it. Here, there was nothing to relieve the melancholy 
aspect of the scene. The people, both masters and 
slaves, were poor, listless and inactive ; their dwellings 
were comfortless and uninviting, and their lands miser- 
ably neglected and unproductive. A death-like incubus 
seemed to hang on the whole place. 

We traversed the whole length of the streets, through 
the suburbs, to visit " La Fuente," which is situated 
in a small dell at the foot of the hill which overhangs 
the town. It is a beautiful spot, ornamented with 
every variety of flower. Its source was concealed from 
view. " La Fuente " is an artificial stone reservoir, of 
considerable length, beautifully overshadowed with 
trees, from whose branches depends a kind of curtain 
of interwoven vines, falling in the most luxuriant 
festoons on every side. It is not now, as perhaps it has 
been in former days, a place of public resort for recrea- 
tion. It is the general laundry of Tampico ; and its 
margin is daily crowded, not with sylphs and naiads, 
but with a motley set of Indian women, more appro- 
priately compared to ancient sybils, or modern gypsies. 
It was, altogether, the most remarkable and striking 
scene that had fallen under my view in my recent 
travels, and one that would figure well in the hands of 
the author of the " Twice Told Tales," or the " Char- 
coal Sketches." To their notice I commend it, with 

10 



110 RETURN AT SUNSET. 

free license to make what use they please of my poor 
description. 

The sun was setting when we returned to Santa 
Anna de Tamaulipas. We paddled slowly aAvay, paus- 
ing occasionally to admire — with my agreeable com- 
panions — the brilliant effect of the last rays of day light 
upon the lakes, woods and mountains, and the luxuriant 
foliage, realizing more fully than I had ever been able 
to do before, the rare beauty of those remarkable lines 
of Beattie — 

Oh ! how canst thou renounce the boundless store 

Of charms that nature to her votary yields, 

The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, 

The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields, 

All that the genial ray of morning gilds, 

And all that echoes to the song of even, 

All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields. 

And all the dread magnificence of heaven — 

Oh ! how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven ! 

Winding between verdant banks, through the broken 
channel, into the beautiful Panuco, we reached the 
mole before night-fall, well satisfied with the adven- 
tures of the day. 

Before leaving the town, I wish to introduce to the 
reader two classes of men, who are somewhat peculiar 
in their appearance, characters and habits, as well as 
somewhat important in their relations to the business of 
the country. 

The Rancheros are a mixed race of Mexican and 
Indian blood. They live on the Ranchos, or large cattle 
farms, and act as drovers. They are brave, and full of 
life and vivacity, but profoundly ignorant of every thing 



THE ARRIEROS. Ill 

beyond their immediate occupations. There is an air 
of independence, and a fearlessness of manner, in the 
Ranchero, which is quite imposing. Sallying forth on 
his sinewy horse, encased in leather, with the ready 
lasso at his saddle bow, he seems, though in coarse 
attire, the embodiment of health, strength and agility. 

The AjTieros, the muleteers of the country, have 
their peculiarities, the most striking of which, and by 
far the most agreeable, is, that they are honest. For 
this virtue they are proverbial, as indeed they should be 
in a land where it is scarcely known in any other class 
of society. Many of them pride themselves much upon 
their vocation, which frequently passes down from 
father to son, through several generations. They are 
civil, obliging and cheerful. They have, as a class, the 
entire confidence of the community, and millions of 
property are confided to their care. Their honesty and 
trustworthiness remain unimpaired amid all the politi- 
cal changes of the country. Often as they are com 
pelled to change masters, they serve the new with the 
same fidelity as the old, and a stranger, or even an 
enemy, as well as a friend. 

Although this rigid honesty and trustworthinesss, in 
this class of persons in Mexico, is worthy of remark and 
of all praise, I take pleasure in stating, from my own 
personal observation, that it is' not peculiar to that coun- 
try. The same class of persons in many parts of the- 
United States, are distinguished for the same virtue. 
Our common stage drivers and mail carriers, although 
their employment is of the hardiest character, and their 
general associations such as to expose them to many of 
the worst temptations of taverns, bar-rooms, and other 



112 A HOME COMPRISON. 

kindred influences, are as well known for their integrity 
and faithfulness, in the trusts committed to them, as for 
their skill and fearlessness in the management of their 
teams. It is the common custom, in many parts of the 
country, to employ these men in conveying remittances 
from the interior, to the banks, or merchants, in the sea- 
port towns. Thousands and thousands of dollars axe 
daily sent in this way, without receipt or acknowledge- 
ment, and with perfect reliance on the faithfulness of 
the carrier. And I do not remember an instance, in 
that part of the country where I have been most 
acquainted, in which this confidence has been mis- 
placed. If the Mexican Arriero is deserving of more 
credit for his virtue, in consequence of the inferior tone 
of morals in the community about him, we would not 
willingly deprive him of it. At the same time, we con- 
fess to a patriotic pride in finding, for every thing that 
is "lovely and of good report" in foreign lands, an 
offset of something equally good, or better, at home. 



CHAPTER ni. 

CANOE VOYAGE UP THE RIVER PANUCO. RAMBLES AMONG THE 
RUINS OF ANCIENT CITIES. 

An independent mode of travelling. — The river and its banks. — 
Soil and productions. — A Yankee brick yard. — Indian huts.— 
Their manner of living. — Their position in society. — Their 
dress, stature and general appearance. — Arrival at Topila 
Creek.— Mr. Coss' rancho. — The Lady's Room. — Company 
at night. — An aged Indian.^ — His ignorance of the past. — 
Mounds. — Ruins of an ancient town. — Rancho de las Piedras. 
— Topila Hills. — Numerous Mounds. — An ancient well. — A 
wild fig-tree. — Extensive ruins. — An evening scene. — Attack 
of the Bandaleros. — Happy escape. 

On the evening of the 14th of March, 1844, I took a 
temporary leave of Tampico, and proceeded up the 
river Panuco, with the intention of visiting, and as far 
as my time and means might allow, of exploring the 
ruins then known to exist, and of seeking others which 
I supposed might be found, in that vicinity. My mode 
of conveyance was as primitive and independent, as 
can well be imagined. In my own hired canoe, with 
an Indian to paddle me along, I felt that I was master 
of my own time and movements, and enjoyed, for a 
season, a perfect freedom from the ordinary restraints 



114 THE RIVER PANUCO. 

and responsibilities of social life. Leaving care, and 
business, and the world behind, and committing my 
little all to the favoring smiles of an omnipresent Provi- 
dence, I threaded my way through the circuitous wind- 
ings of that romantic stream, with a resolute purpose to 
enjoy every thing, and be annoyed at nothing, however 
strange it might be. This disposition is essential to 
the comfort of the traveller, in any strange land, and 
especially in one that is barbarous, or semi-civilized ; 
and, under whatever circumstances it is put in requisi- 
tion, it is its own sufficient reward. 

The river Panuco rises among the lakes near the 
city of Mexico, and winds its meandering way, under 
several different names, the principal of which is 
" Canada," till it debouches into the Gulf of Mexico, 
six miles below Tampico. It is navigable about one 
hundred and forty miles, for all vessels that can pass 
the bar at its mouth ; and yet, owing to its circuitous 
course, the distance hy land, from this head of naviga- 
tion to Tampico, is not more than forty miles. The 
river seldom swells so as to overflow its banks. The 
land, on either side, was found, on examination, to be a 
deep, rich loam, capable of producing corn, sugar, 
tobacco and rice. The sugar cane found in this region 
is extremely productive. It grows in height from four- 
teen to twenty feet, and requires re-planting but once in 
nine or ten years. It will be a glorious region for ama- 
teur planters and speculators, when " the area of free- 
dom" shall have extended to the Isthmus of Panama. 
Ebony, rose- wood, dye-woods of various kinds, and 
sarsaparilla, are cut here in great abundance, and are 
important articles of exportation. 



A YANKEE BRICK YARD. 115 

The banks of this river, though beautifully arrayed 
in the verdure of nature, want that humanizing interest 
that peculiar utilitarian charm, which cultivation and 
occupation alone can impart. Our progress, therefore, 
though always presenting something new to the eye, 
seemed comparatively slow and tedious, with little of 
life, but that which we carried along with us, to disturb 
its quiet monotony. 

As the evening of the first day was setting in, we 
stopped at a brick yard, the property of two enterprising 
kind-hearted Americans, by whom we were hospitably 
entertained, and who informed us that our day's jour- 
ney had been made^ by travelling a distance of eigh- 
teen miles. The new town of Santa Anna de Tamau- 
lipas, brought into requisition, and gave employment to 
many of our countrymen. And, when the making of 
brick became lucrative, our good-natured hosts deter- 
mined to lose no time in taking advantage of the occa- 
sion. The adventure was accordingly made, and a 
few years' thrift has placed their affairs in a hopeful 
and healthy condition. But, like all other foreigners in 
this country, they are heartily tired of remaining here, 
and are looking forward with much anxiety to the 
happy day, when they shall be enabled to return to 
their native land ; for, such are the decrees of the gov- 
ernment, that, in direct violation of treaty, an open 
warfare is kept up against the rights and interests of 
all emigrants, — but, more particularly, those from the 
United States, — many of Avhom are sacrificing their 
property and prospects of afiluence, and leaving the 
country in utter disgust. 

Early the following morning, we proceeded on our 



116 INDIANS — THEIR POSITION IN SOCIETY. 

course up the river, stopping, occasionally, to visit the 
rude huts of the Indians. The huts are formed prin- 
cipally of mud, with thatched roofs, and present a most 
uncomfortable appearance ; whilst the poor, degenerated 
occupants, derive a mean and scanty support, from a 
small strip of land along the banks of the river, their 
chief object being the cultivation of corn for tlieir own 
use. Pieces of clay, put rudely together and baked, 
are the common utensils for cooking their food ; and a 
few upright sticks or reeds, driven into the mud floor, 
with a hide stretched over them, constitute their m^ost 
luxurious bed. Indolent and filthy, they work only to 
meet their own immediate wants ; and, so degraded is 
their condition, that gaming and cock-fighting are their 
principal pastimes. The inebriating bowl, also, is 
eagerly sought by them, and a large portion of their 
earnings is spent in this riotous way, even under the 
guidance of their priests, at the celebration of a mar- 
riage, or on the occasion of a christening. 

The Indians of Central America, bear as little resem- 
blance to those of our country generally, as the Span- 
iards among whom they dwell do, to us! They do not, 
in any place, live by themselves, as independent tribes. 
They have no peculiar habits of life, or of warfare — no 
hunting — no sports peculiar to themselves — and none of 
the customs of their ancestors preserved, to distinguish 
them from the mass of people about them. It is only 
their complexion, their poverty, and generally degraded 
condition, that marks the difterence between them and 
their neighbors. They occupy nearly the same posi- 
tion there, as the free blacks do in the United States, 
with this diflerence in favor of the latter — that there is 



THEIR DRESS AND GENERAL APPEARANCE. 117 

nothing in the spirit of our institutions, civil, or relig- 
ious, that prevents them from attaining a respectable 
education, and a comfortable independence. 




AN INDIAN MAN AND "WOMAN. 



Ordinarily, the men wear trousers, — sometimes shirts 
of cotton, — but, in many parts of the country, owing to 
the prohibition of certain qualities and textures, this 
luxury is fast disappearing, and the more primitive dress 
of skins is taking its place. The rehosa, a narrow 
scarf, thrown over the head and shoulders, is indispen- 
sable to females. No matter what constitutes the other 
portion of their covering, even though, as is oftentimes 
the case, their wardrobe is so scanty as scarcely to 
cover their limbs, yet this is considered paramount. On 
one occasion, I remember to have seen a female, with a 



118 ARRIVAL AT TOPILA CREEK. 

rebosa upon her head, which cost no less than twenty- 
five dollars, whilst her body was miserably covered 
with a sort of under garment, or petticoat, such as few 
of our common street beggars would be willing to wear. 

These people are of the usual color and stature of 
the Mexican Indians, but not so finely formed as the 
majority of them are,— nor have they that good expres- 
sion, so prominent among the people of the southern 
portions of Mexico. They seem, moreover, to be 
entirely destitute of that spirit of religion, which their 
manifest appreciation of some religious rites, would 
naturally lead us to expect. Altogether, they are the 
most unfavorable specimen of the natives that have 
fallen under my observation. 

Before night-fall of the second day of our voyage, 
we reached the mouth of the Topila Creek, a distance 
of twenty miles from the brick-yard. Continuing our 
course up that stream about three miles, we came to a 
rancho, or cattle-farm, belong to a Mr. Coss, of Tampico, 
brother of the celebrated general of Texan memory. 
Before I left Tampico, this gentleman gave me a letter 
to his major-domo, a half-breed, who received us with 
great attention. The letter being very explicit on the 
subject of accommodation J I could not but fare well in 
this respect, — and it may yet, perhaps, be gathered from 
the sequel, that I was treated more like a prince than a 
common traveller. 

Arriving at the place, we were ushered into a bam- 
boo house, with mud walls, and floors of the same 
primitive material. This house contained no less than 
two apartments. One of these, sustained the distin- 
guished appellation of " the ladifs room^^ — and it was 



THE "lady's room." 119 

now my privilege to become its sole occupant. In one 
corner of the room, stood a bedstead, without bed or 
bedding ; and a dressing-table, decorated with sundry- 
condemned combs, oil-bottles, scissors and patches, oc- 
cupied another ; whilst a demijohn of aguardiente, and 
other interesting ornaments, such as saddles, guns, and 
swords, filled up the picture. However, as I intended 
to make this place my head-quarters, while exploring 
the hills and river banks in the neighborhood, I at once 
resolved to be satisfied with "the lady's room," and 
such other good things as the place afforded. Accord- 
ingly, at an early hour, I spread out my blanket, and 
retired for the night ; — " deep into the darkness peer- 
ing — long I lay there, fondly dreaming," as before 
observed, that I was " alone in my glory." 

But, alas ! the soft reflections of dreamy hours were 
disturbed by an unexpected visit from a goodly number 
of well-disciplined, noxious little animals, who intro- 
duced themselves to me in a most significant, yet 
unceremonious manner. No remarks being made 
respecting the object of their visit, I was left to infer, that 
the kindness of the major-domo had moved him to organ- 
ize a new company of lancers, for my especial benefit. 
After many unsuccessful attempts to induce this unso- 
licited force to withdraw,' my attention was politely 
called to another quarter. Having been strongly 
impressed, I was now fully convinced, of the immediate 
presence of sundry young pigeons, many of whom, 
protected by their maternal parents, were perched in 
the crevices of the wall over my head. These, 
together with the game fowls, setting under my bed, 
contributed much to destroy that confidence which, 



120 AN AGED INDIAN. 

until now had not been disturbed, that I had actually 
secured the undivided occupancy of that unique apart- 
ment. Of course, it was unnecessary to arouse me in 
the morning. 

Before sunrise, I found myself well equipped for the 
explorations of the day. The mules being in readiness, 
I started in company with a guide, and rode five miles 
to another rancho, where, as I was informed, there lived 
an Indian upwards of a hundred years of age. I 
found him, to my surprise, a hale and sturdy man — 
though he could give me no intelligence respecting the 
objects of my research. Indeed, so suspicious are these 
people of the designs of strangers, that it was with the 
utmost difficulty I could convince him, as well as 
others, that my only motive in visiting the country, 
was to acquaint myself with the ancient places of their 
forefathers ; not, as they supposed, to roam in quest of 
gold and silver mines. 

Supposing that, in a man so much beyond the ordi- 
nary limit of human life, whose memory might extend 
back almost one-third of the way to the era of the 
Spanish conquest, and who was now in the full posses- 
sion of his faculties, I had found a rare and enviable 
opportunity to pry into the mysteries of the past, and 
learn something of the history of the remarkable peo- 
ple, who once occupied this whole region, and filled 
it with monuments of their genius, taste, and power ; — 
I employed all my ingenuity to draw out of him what- 
ever he knew. But it was pumping at an exhausted 
Avell. Of facts, of history, in any form, he had nothing 
to tell. He seemed not to have a thought that there was 
anything to be told, except one vague unsatisfactory 



ANCIENT RUINS. 121 

tradition, the only one existing among the inhabitants 
in all this region, that once on a time — they have no 
conception when, whether a hundred or a thousand 
years ago — " giants came from the North, as was pro- 
phesied by the gods, killed and destroyed the people, 
and continued on to the South." This tradition, bear- 
ing a strong analogy to one which prevails among 
nearly all the aboriginal tribes of the Mississippi Valley, 
and the wilds of the west, seems to be the only con- 
necting link between the present generation, and that 
mysteriously interesting blank — the exterminated obli- 
terated Past. 

In the vicinity of this rancho, in an easterly direc- 
tion from it, I found, in several considerable mounds, 
the first traces of ancient art that had greeted my eyes. 
One of these mounds was more than twenty-five feet 
in height, and of a circular form. At its sides, a num- 
ber of layers of small, fiat, well-hewn stones were still 
to be seen. Scattered about, in its immediate neigh- 
borhood, were also many others of a larger size, and 
of different forms. These had apparently once been 
used for the sides of door-ways and lintels. They were 
perfectly plain, without any mark or sign of ornament. 

Upon this spot once stood one of those ancient 
Indian towns, the memorials of whose departed great- 
ness and glory are so often met with, in every part of 
this interesting country. The ruins in this place are 
ruins indeed, so dilapidated as not to afford, at the 
present time, the remotest clue to the manners and 
customs of the builders, or the degree of civilization to 
which they may have attained. I traversed the whole 
ground, as well as the rank vegetation, and wild ani- 

11 



122 RANCHOS DE LAS PIEDRAS. 

mals would permit, and found my way back to the 
Topila at dark, — congratulating myself on having been 
able to accomplish so much, in the way of exploration, 
with no other protection than the untanned skin of an 
American, while that of a rhinoceros seemed absolutely 
necessary to the undertaking ; for both the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms appeared to be combined against 
the intrusion of man. 

On the morning of the next day, I set out with a 
party of Indians, on a visit to the Rancho de las 
Piedras, distant about two leagues and a half, in a south- 
east direction. We made our way, slowly, and wear- 
ily, as usual, threading the thick wilds with much toil 
and fatigue, until we reached a rise of land, or plateau, 
near a chain of hills running through this section of 
country, and known as the Topila Hills. Here I found 
stones that were once evidently used for buildings. 
Proceeding on our way, we came to other and clearer 
evidences of ancient art. These were mounds, the 
sides of which had been constructed of loose layers of 
smooth and uniform blocks of concrete sandstone ; — 
but most of the layers had fallen from their original 
position, and were found in large masses near the 
elevation. The blocks of stone, with a surface eigh- 
teen inches square, measured about six inches in thick- 
ness, and appeared to have been laid without mortar, or 
other adhesive material. I observed about twenty of 
these mounds, contiguous to each other, and varying in 
height from six to twenty-five feet, — some being of a 
circular, and others of a square form ; but, unlike most 
of those found in other parts of the country, they were 
not laid out with any degree of regularity. On the top 



AN ANCIENT WELL. 123 

of one of the largest, there had evidently been a terrace, 
though it was difficult, in its present dilapidated state, 
to define its outlines, or judge of its extent. 

The principal elevation covers an area of about two 
acres. At the base of this mound, was a slab of stone 
about seven inches in thickness, well hewn, and of a 
circular form, having a hole through the centre, and 
resting upon a circular wall, or foundation, the top of 
which was level with the ground. This stone mea- 
sured four feet nine inches in diameter. On removing 
it, I discovered a well, filled up with broken stone and 
fragments of pottery. Stone coverings in wells have 
been found in the ancient works on the main branches 
of Paint Creek, Ohio, bearing a strong resemblance to 
the one here noticed ; and it is also worthy of remark, 
that wells covered in this way, strongly resemble the 
descriptions we have of those used in the patriarchal 
ages. How much of an argument might be made, from 
such an isolated circumstance as this, to confirm the 
opinion entertained by some able writers, that the abo- 
riginal inhabitants of America were the descendants of 
Abraham, the lost ten tribes, who revolted under Reho- 
boam, the son of Solomon, and were carried away into 
Assyria, I shall not undertake to decide. Many a fair 
theory, however, has been erected upon a foundation no 
broader than this, nor more substantial ; and many a 
volume has been written to sustain the shadowy fabric. 

I should have stated above, that the upper side of the 
stone removed, bore evidence of having been originally 
wrought with ornamental lines ; but these lines were so 
much obliterated by time and exposure to the weather, 
that they could not now be traced. 



124 A WILD FIG-TREE — MOUNDS. 

On the top of this mound, a wild fig-tree, more than 
a hundred feet high, grows luxuriantly, indicating by- 
its size and age, that the mound on which it stands, is 
not the work of modern builders. 

The walls of the smaller mounds had invariably fal- 
len inwards, a circumstance which led to the conjecture 
that they had been used as burying places. For, as 
the bones within would, in process of time, decay and 
moulder into dust, the loose walls, having no cement to 
hold them together, would gradually settle in upon the 
ashes of the dead. The ground for several miles 
around, was strewn with loose hewn stones, of various 
shapes, and broken pieces of pottery, evidently parts of 
household utensils ; also, fragments of obsidean, which 
no doubt had been used as the knives and spears of a 
people, respecting whom, little is known at this day, 
except that they were a warlike race, and far advanced 
in the arts of civilization. The nearest point now 
known, where this mineral can be obtained, is Pelados, 
near the Real del Monte, in the vicinity of the city of 
Mexico. The celebrated " Mountain of Fhnts," which, 
though but twenty-four miles in extent, cost the inde- 
fatigable Cortes, and his brave band, twelve days of the 
most painful toil to surmount, lies still farther off, in the 
south western part of Yucatan. 

An incident of a somewhat startling character, which 
occured to me here, while it illustrates another feature 
in the state of society in these parts, and the character 
of the people whom the traveller sometimes has to deal 
with, will serve to bring the present chapter to close ; 
leaving the interesting curiosities discovered among the 



ALMOST MURDERED. 125 

ruins, and a yet more thilling adventure which befel 
me, to form the material for a separate chapter. 

It was evening. The day had been spent in ram- 
bhng and chmbing about the time hallowed ruins of 
those old deserted cities, and searching among the 
mouldering relics of antiquity, for something to identify 
the dead with the living, or to serve as a satisfactory 
link between the past and the present. My Indian 
comrades and myself were cosily discussing our forest 
fare, each indulging in his own private reflections, and 
totally unsuspicious of any interruption to our humble 
meal, when we were suddenly surrounded by a band of 
those grim-looking, dark-bearded, heavily-whiskered 
gentlemanly-looking like highwaymen, that infest almost 
every part of the country. They immediately dis- 
mounted, and made us prisoners, seizing us by the 
hand as if they would bind us, to pr'event our escape. 
We made no resistance, for we were unprepared for 
defence, and entirely at their mercy. Here, now, was 
trouble enough. What a poor finale to my brief and 
unprofitable adventures, to be murdered in cold blood 
by these merciless banditti, or made a hopeless captive 
in some of their mountain fastnesses ! My position, 
feelings, and reflections, can be better imagined than 
described. 

Having surveyed us from crown to toe, with the 
utmost scrutiny, and compared notes respecting our 
appearance, and the prospect of obtaining any satisfac- 
tion in our blood, they drew forth from their bags — the 
huge and fearful looking horse-pistol ? — No. The long, 
glittering, keen-edged, high-tempered dirk, drunk with 
the blood of numberless victims of their rapacious cru- 



126 THE ISSUE. 

elty ? — No. The slender stiletto, so delicately formed, 
and so exquisitely polished, as to insinuate itself into the 
vitals, ere the parted epidermis had realized the rent it 
had made in passing ? — No. The savage cutlass ? — the 
heavy, fierce-looking, trenchant broad-sword ? — No. Not 
these — nor any of them, — but, unexpected, and unheard 
of, even among civilized highwaymen — they drew out 
an ample store of substantial food, and invited us to 
partake of their supper. We did not shrink from their 
professed hospitality. We made ourselves of their party 
for the moment, and spent an hour, or more, in their 
company, with great glee, and with mutual satisfaction 
— after whichy they mounted and rode off, and we took 
to our hammocks and our dreams. 

By what token we escaped, I was not able to conjec- 
ture. Whether, as my vanity might have suggested, 
it was to be attributed to my good looks, or to my 
Spanish sombrero, flannel shirt, and bandolero air, or 
to the influence of some propitious star, just then in the 
ascendant, is a mystery yet to be explained. If I may 
have the same good fortune in escaping the censure of 
the reader, upon whose patience these trifling sketches 
have been inflicted, it will afford me a gratification that 
will far more than overbalance all the pains and incon- 
veniences that I have suffered, from being brought into 
conflict with insects, wild beasts, and robbers. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

FURTHER EXPLORATION OF THE RUINS IN THE VICINITY OP 
THE RANCHO DE LAS PIEDRAS. 

Situation of the Ruins. — Their probable antiquity. — A remark- 
able female head.— Description of it. — Where found. — 
Brought to New York. — Another head. — Difficulty of getting 
at it.— Its collossal proportions. — A particular description. — 
Indians disposed to leave me, but induced to remain. — The 
American Sphinx. — Description. — Conjectures of its origin 
and design." — Curiously ornamented head. — Its peculiar fea- 
tures. — Exploring the ruins a difficult work. — Annoyances. — 
Deserted by the Indians. — A delicate situation. — A fortunate 
escape. 

These ruins are situated, as near as I could calculate 
with the primitive instruments constructed for the occa- 
sion, in longitude 98^ 31' west, and latitude 22° 9' north, 
covering a space of several miles square, and have 
every appearance of being the remains of a single town. 
The whole place is completely covered with trees of 
the largest growth, so thickly interspersed with the 
rankest vegetation, that even the sun, or daylight itself, 
can scarcely find its way among them. So very dense 
and dark is the forest, and so constant and extensive 
the decomposition of vegetable matter going on beneath 



128 



A FEMALE HEAD. 



it, that it impregimtes the whole region with a humid 
and unwholesome atmosphere. It is true, that these 
circumstances have, in a great degree, hastened the 
dilapidation of the works of human skill around ; but, 
nevertheless, they furnish indisputable evidence of the 
great antiquity of those works. 




FEMALE HEAD. 



Among these ruins, I found a remarkable head, 
which, with various other relics of antiquity from the 
same interesting region, I had the honor of depositing 
in the collection of the New York Historical Society. 
Tliis head, or rather face, a drawing of which I have 
the pleasure of here presenting to the reader, resembles 



DESCRIPTION TRANSPORTED TO NEW YORK. 129 

that of a female. It is beautifully cut from a fine sand- 
stone, of a dark reddish hue, which abounds in this 
vicinity. The face, which is of the ordinary life size, 
stands out, in full relief, from the rough block, as if it 
were in an unfinished state, or as if designed to occupy 
a place among the ornamental work of a building. In 
several of its features, the lines are decidedly Grecian, 
and the symmetry and beauty of its proportions have 
been very much admired. How and where the artist 
may have obtained his model, and how far the exist- 
ence of it may be deemed to confirm the statements of 
Plato and Aristotle, and favor the conjecture of an early 
settlement on this continent by the Phoenician naviga- 
tors, I shall not now stay to inquire. 

This striking figure I found, lying among vast piles 
of broken and crumbling stones, the ruins of dilapidated 
buildings, which were strewed over a vast space. It 
was in a remarkably good state of preservation, except 
the nose, which was slightly miitilated ; not sufficiently 
so, however, to lose its uniformity, or destroy the beau- 
tiful symmetry of its proportions. The fillet, or band 
of the head-dress, which conceals the frontal develop- 
ments, is unlike any thing found among the sculptured 
remains in this country, or worn by any of the native 
tribes. 

On discovering this remarkable piece of sculpture — - 
remarkable considering the place where it was found — I 
immediately commenced making a drawing of it. But, 
before completing the sketch, I Avas so struck with its 
singular beauty and perfection, that I determined to lay 
violent hands on it, and bring it away with me ; fear- 
ing that a mere drawing would not be sufficient evi- 



130 



A COLOSSAL HEAD. 



dence, to the incredulous world, of the existence of 
such a piece of work among, the ruins of places, which 
had been built and peopled, according to the commonly 
received opinion, by a race of semi-barbarians. It was 
a work of no little labor and difficulty to secure it. But 
I finally succeeded in giving it a comfortable and a safe 
lodgment on the back of my mule, and so brought it 
to the bank of the river, where I em6ar^ed it in a 
canoe. It had several narrow escapes by the way, 
but was, at length, safely landed in New York. 




COLOSSAL HEAD, 



I also discovered among the rubbish, in this place, 
and not far from the spot where the above described 



DESCRIPTION OF IT. 131. 

Grecian head was found, another large stone, with a 
head well sculptured upon its surface, in bold relief, as 
represented in the^ accompanying engraving. It was 
buried up in a mass of superincumbent ruins, and was 
only brought to light in the com'se of my laborious 
excavations. On removing the loose stones and dust 
which covered it — the labor of nearly a whole day — it 
stood as represented in the sketch. The face was not 
so finely chiselled, nor had it the same regular classic 
beauty of feature and proportion, as the one first seen 
and described ; but still there is much in its general 
appearance to attract attention. It is diflerent from any 
thing heretofore discovered on this side of the Atlantic. 
The features, like those of the head which I brought 
away with me, are decidedly those of the Caucasian 
race, bearing no resemblance to those of any of the 
tribes on this continent. The ears are rather large, 
and the hair is represented rather by a series of regular 
flutings, than by any attempt at the wavy lines, which 
are ordinarily deemed essential to grace in this capital 
ornament. A band, or collar, passes round from the 
back of the neck, close to, and supporting the face, and 
meeting in a point, a few inches below the chin. 

The stone on which this figure was cut was circular, 
twelve feet in diameter, and three in thickness. The 
head, covering more than half its area, was of course 
of colossal proportions. The periphery of this mighty 
wheel was geometrically accurate and regular, and 
smoothly chiselled off", and would have served well, in 
ancient times, to fulfil the tartarean destiny of Sisyphus, 
or, in these modern times, for a Yankee mill-stone. It 
was a laborious task to clear away the stones and dirt 



132 ALMOST DESERTED— SOMETHING NEW. 

that had been accumulating about it, perhaps for ages. 
But the sight of it, when placed in an upright position, 
amply repaid me for all the toil and fatigue, which it 
cost me to effect it. 

It was only with the greatest difficulty that I could 
keep my Indian allies at work. The influence of 
presents and coaxing was exhausted, long before I had 
attained my purpose with regard to this colossal figure- 
head. I then turned preacher, and addressed myself to 
their superstitious notions with some effect ; calling up 
my little stock of proverbial wisdom, to stimulate them 
to new exertions, and giving them to understand that I 
expected to find something better than loose and broken 
stones, in turning up the soil, and rummaging among 
the ruined sepulchres of the departed. They did not 
comprehend the drift of my oracular discourse ; but, 
like many other sermons, too profound for the com- 
prehension of the hearers, it increased their reverence 
for the preacher, and made them more submissive to 
my orders. 

The next object which arrested my attention, was 
one, the sight of which carried back my imagination to 
ages of classic interest, and to the marvels of human art 
and power, on the banks of the river of Egypt. It was 
not perhaps a Sphinx, in the language of the critical 
and fastidious antiquarian ; but sure I am, that no one, 
however scrupulous for the honor of oriental antiqui- 
ties, could sec it, without being strongly reminded of 
the fabulous monster of Thebes, and secretly wishing 
that he was so far an CEdipus, as to be able to solve 
the inexplicable riddle of its origin and design. It was 
the figure, as represented in the accompanying engrav- 



THE AMERICAN SPHINX. 133 

ing, of a mammoth turtle^ with the head of a man 
boldly protruded from under its gigantic shell. The 
figure of the amphibious monster measured over six 
feet in length, with a proportional width, and rested 
upon a huge block of concrete sand-stone. The back 
was correctly and artistically wrought, displaying the 
exact form, and all the scale lines of the turtle in good 
proportion. There were also, in many parts distinctly 
visible, fainter lines, to show that the peculiar arabesque 
of that ornamental shield had not been overlooked by 
the artist. / . ^ 

All the other parts were equally true to nature. It 
was much broken and mutilated, especially the human 
protuberance ; but not sufficiently so to destroy the 
evidences of the skill with which it had been designed, 
and of the masterly workmanship with which it had 
been wrought. This head must, originally, have been 
an unusually fine specimen of ancient American art. 
Like all the others found in this region, it has the 
Caucasian outline and contour, and in its finish and 
expression, is strongly marked with the unmistakable 
impress of genius. It is rare, among these works, to 
meet with an entire head, like this. They are gener- 
ally half buried in the rock from which they were 
hewn, as if designed to be placed in some conspicuous 
position in the facade, or interior wall of a building. 
This work gives the head complete, and the posterior 
developments of the crauium, as the phrenologist would 
say, are those of an intellectual and moral cast — that is 
to say, they are quite subordinate to the frontal devel- 
opments. The forehead was originally high and broad, 
though the mutilated appearance of the upper part, as 

12 



134 CONJECTURES. 

given in the plate, would leave a different impression. 
The nose, as far as it remains is beautifully shaped and 
finely chiselled, as are also the lips, the chin, and the 
ears. 

It is only for me to describe things as I saw them, 
leaving it to others, more profound than myself in anti- 
quarian researches, to frame appropriate theories for 
their explanation. But I could not avoid the tempta- 
tion to pause a little over this singular curiosity, with a 
lurking disposition to catechise conjecture, respecting its 
probable signification and end. But it was all in vain 
— a mere reverie of guess-work, without beginning or 
clue. Whether it was the offspring of a simple freak 
of the imagination of the artist ; — whether • it was one 
of the symbols of the Avorship of that unknown race, 
for whom the artist exercised his unholy craft of mak- 
ing " gods which are yet no gods ; " — whether it was a 
quaint hieroglyphical memorial of some remarkable 
epoch in their history — some luckless Jonah half swal- 
lowed by a turtle, and for ever struggling to escape ; — 
whether it was the emblematic device of a club of 
artistic gourmands, the sign to be placed over the door 
of their banqueting hall, designed to acknowledge and 
illustrate the intimate union and sympathy, the identity 
of nature, between man and beast, in those who " make 
a god of their belly ; " — these are alternatives of conjec- 
ture, upon which we may speculate as we will, but 
from which it is neither safe nor easy to make a definite 
choice. 

The probable history and design of " the American 
Sphinx " — for such I have taken the liberty to name it 
— will, I trust, be made a matter of more sober and sue- 



LOST IN WONDER. 135 

cessful enquiry by some future traveller, more skilled 
than I can profess to be in antiquarian researches. It 
is an ample field, strewn on every side with subjects of 
the deepest interest. And he who shall first, by means 
of these only records that remain, scattered, disconnected, 
and crumbling into hopeless decay, decypher some 
legible tale of probability, and unravel a leading clue to 
the history of these now inexplicable relics, will win 
and deserve the admiring gratitude of all, who are curi- 
ous to investigate the ever changing aspects of human 
society. 

I had scarcely met with any thing, in all my rambles, 
more full of exciting interest, than the field I was now 
exploring ; and I never so much regretted being alone. 
For a well read antiquarian to talk with — for a curioso 
in hieroglyphical lore to trace out the mystic lines, and 
give an intelligent signification to the grotesque images 
about me — I would have given my last maravedi, and 
the better half of my humble stock of provisions. Frag- 
ments of various kinds, and of every size and form, lay 
scattered around me, on every side, in the immediate 
vicinity of this " American Sphinx," affording in their 
shapes, though mutilated and imperfect, and in the 
lines of sculpture still traceable upon many of them, 
SditisfsiCtOTj prima facie evidence of having once com- 
posed the ornamental decorations of immense and 
splendid edifices, which now lay in utter ruins at my 
feet. 

The place where I stood had evidently been the site 
of a large city, thronged with busy multitudes of human 
beings, whose minds were cultivated and refined, whose 
hearts throbbed high with human affections, and human 



136 



AN ORNAMENTED HEAD. 



hopes, and who doubtless dreamed, as we do, that their 
works would make their names immortal. But where 
are they ? A thousand echoes, from the hills and walls 
around, answer — where 7 

Proceeding with my excavations, and turning over 
large masses of earth, and stones of every size and 
shape, I was at length rewarded with the discovery of 
another figure, somewhat resembling, but in many 




AN ORNAMENTED HEAD. 



respects unlike, those which I have already shown. A 
sketch of it is given in the above engraving. It was 
merely the face, standing out in full relief from the 
block, Avhich was entirely cut away from the top and 
bottom, but left, in two nearly circular projections, at the 



A MYTHOLOGICAL SUGGESTION. 137 

sides. The head ornaments are striking and peculiar. 
They are not, as might be supposed from their appear- 
ance in the reduced scale of the engraving, miniature 
heads. If they were, I should venture to find in them 
another item of Grecian mythology, and boldly assume 
that the head was that of Jupiter, with three young 
Minervas in the act of issuing from his pregnant brain. 
Nor would the appearance of three, instead of one, in 
any manner stagger my faith, since it is well known, 
that America exceeds all other parts of the world in 
human and animal fecundity, as well as in the fertility 
of its soil. And why not equally so in its mythological 
reproductions ? But, alas ! for one of the most promis- 
ing theories that ever was conceived, these ornaments 
are only balls, with slight indentations, connected 
together by a band running across the top of the head, 
and terminating at the sides, just above " the ears. A 
phrenologist might possibly discern in them, the over- 
grown diseased developments of the intellectual organs 
residing in that part of the cranium. 

The ears of this figure are monstrous, being nearly 
half the size of the face. The features, and the whole 
contour of the face, like the other two, will be seen to 
be entirely Caucasian, having no element of the Indian 
or American, in any of its lines. It is seventeen inches 
I in length, twenty one in breadth, including the huge 
I ears, and ten in thickness. It was found in the side of 
j a large pile of ruins, the remains of dilapidated walls 
i and buildings, of which it had evidently formed one of 
j the ornamental parts. There were fragments of others 
I of the same general character, but none in so good pre- 
I servation as this, which require a distinct description. 

1 



138 DESERTED BY MY ALLIES. 

It required but a few days to examine this part of the 
country, — and I was really glad when the time expired ; 
— for, besides the immense labor of cutting every step 
of our way through a dense shrubbery, which covers 
most of the country, and a wilderness of trees and 
thickets, matted and woven together with thousands of 
creepers, together with plants, rendered almost impene- 
trable by their thorns, which, like spears, would pierce 
at every movement, — we had also to contend with 
myriads of insects of which the reading world has 
already heard so much from learned travellers, that it 
might be deemed a work of supererogation to speak of 
them again, and which, it will be observed are herein 
named, only in connection with other obstacles of greater 
magnitude, — such as the poisonous tarantula, which is 
often disturbed from its stony bed, and the tiger of the 
country, sometimes started from the thickets ! But, 
to be deserted in this extremity, is a thing not easily to 
be borne. Yet so it was. My recently enlisted Indian 
comrades, being entirely out-done and astonished, gave 
me up as a wild or crazy man, and fled to their homes ! 
Thus forsaken, — ^but not until after a week of research, 
I returned in safety to " the lady's room," where I found 
my Indian allies had arrived some days before me. 

While pursuing my solitary researches, after my aids 
had absconded, I was obliged to satisfy myself with 
such objects of curiosity as lay upon the surface, with- 
out any effort to remove obstructions, or excavate among 
the ruins. There was little to be gained in this way. 
Moreover, as I have hinted above, there was much dis- 
comfort, and no little danger, in remaining alone, as 
will be seen by the following incident. 




i: 

1;{'; 




'A^rft^n**- ,ii/ J; 



A THRILLING ADVENTURE. 139 

I had swung my hammock, as usual, between two 
trees, and, havmg lighted my watch-fires in the open 
space around, had passed a comfortable night, with no 
other intrusion than dreams of home, and the musical 
hum of musquitoes. Very early in the morning, I was 
startled by a rustling in the thicket near by. Lifting 
myself up, in some alarm, I was by no means gratified, 
or quieted, by the appearance of a full grown tiger, 
creeping stealthily along through the rank growth of 
grass and weeds, which skirted the thicket, and peering 
at me, as if he had not yet provided himself a break- 
fast. Happily, my fires were still burning, and the 
sight of them brought the intruder to a pause. I seized 
my gun, and made ready to give him the best reception 
in my power, in case he should show any disposition to 
cultivate a further acquaintance. In this situation, cer- 
tainly not very agreeable to me, whatever it might have 
been to my unwelcome forest visitor, we remained more 
than two hours, intently eyeing each other, as if pre- 
paring for the deadly contest. They were hours of as 
painful and absorbing suspense, as any that I ever expe- 
rienced. I had little doubt that one or the other of us 
must fall a sacrifice to this ill considered and unexpected 
meeting. But I was disappointed. Whether it was 
want of appetite, or a disrelish for the smoke of my 
watch-fires, or an instinctive apprehension of other fires, 
and a more distasteful smoke, in reserve for him, I 
know not, and did not care to ask him. But, after sev- 
eral times changing his position from side to side, as if 
j seeking a favorable point of attack, he slunk away, as 
] cautiously as he came, turning wistfully round several 
times, in his retreat, as if half resolved not to leave me, 



140 



THE ESCAPE. 



or somewhat suspicious that his escape would be inter- 
rupted. I had many misgivings about his return dur- 
ing the day, feehng that I would rather risk such a 
meeting in my hammock, guarded by the watch-fires, 
than in my solitary and unprotected rambles through 
the forest. 







CHAPTER II. 

VISIT TO THE ANCIENT TOWN OF PANUCO. RUINS. CURIOUS 
RELICS rOUND THERE. 

The route. — Scenery. — The wild Fig Tree. — Panuco. — Its his- 
tory. — Present appearance of the town. — Language. — Ruins 
in the vicinity.— Discovery of the sepulchral effigy. — Des- 
cription of it. — Situation in which it was found. — Resem- 
blance to figures on the tomb of the Knights Templar. — 
A conjecture. — An influence. — A conclusion. — Extensive 
ruins of Cerro Chacuaco, and other places. — Vases found 
there. — Probably of modern date. 

During my sojourn in the interior, I made another 
exploring excursion, in order to visit the ancient town 
of Panuco ; where I was received with the greatest 
kindness and hospitahty, both by the white and the 
half-breed inhabitants of the place. My route lay 
along the banks of the river, and across the prairies ; 
the common road being by a bridle path, through the 
woods, and never successfully travelled, but with the 
greatest care and watchfulness. The ranchos and 
milpas, (small farms) assumed a better appearance than 
was expected ; and we passed several fields of ripe corn 
and cane, owned principally, by Indians. But even 



142 THE WILD FIG TREE. 

here, every thing, whether Indian or Mexican, wears a » 
primitive look. 

Proceeding up the river, which retained its width of 
half a mile, we found the scenery on either side con- 
tinually improving as we went, and opening new views '^ 
of the most picturesque and romantic beauty. I visited l'^ 
many of the Indian huts that lay in our way, the occu- f 
pants of which were very civil ; but it was quite impos- j^ 
sible here, as in other places, to convince the people, ^ 
that acquisition of gold was not the object of my visit, f^ 
— a circumstance which may, perhaps, in some degree, ? 
account for the fact, that I could obtain from them sof 
little information respecting the neighboring country. 

The wild fig-tree, which bears a small fruit, resem- 
bling that of the cultivated tree in Louisiana, grows 
here to a vast extent and beauty, having, from its wide- 
spreading branches, suckers, which hang down and 
touch the ground, where they take root and grow in 
size equal to the original trunk, — thus giving to the 
tree, the appearance of a frame house with supporters ! 
and rafters. This beautiful tree also resembles the i 
Banyan of South America, and belongs to that class. | 

There are, likewise, in this vicinity, many other trees i 
of curious and rare growth, some of which, being filled I 
with fruit and blossoms at the same time, present a i 
most unusual and pleasing appearance. Others, adorned j 
with parasitical plants, intertwined with graceful vines j 
and fragrant with flowers, aftbrd a paradise for birds of j 
the most brilliant plumage, and give indescribable rich- 
ness and beauty to the scene. 

Panuco is an old town of the Huestacos^ and is sub- 
ject to occasional inundations during the rainy season. 



I THE PLACE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 143 

i According to Bernal Diaz, this is the place conquered 
jby Cortes, at so great an expense of Ufe and treasure. 
\At the period of the conquest, this was a position of 
I much consequence, as may be inferred from the fact, 
jthat the conqueror petitioned Charles the Fifth to add 
jits government to that of New Spain. This request 
jbeing granted, a garrison was accordingly placed there, 
land commended to the guardian care of >S'^. ^Stephen, — 
ia name which holds its influence there to the present 
Iday. It was the powerful and heroic race of the Hues- 
Itacos that once dwelt here ; a race so hated by the 
|ruthless invaders of Mexico, that, if they had had power 
to accomplish their fiendish desire, not a vestige of that 
noble people would have been found remaining. But, 
jeven the wasting influences of time, and that desolating 
ibigotry which rioted in the destruction of every thing 
ithat was not consecrated, or, more properly speaking, 
desecrated to the idolatry of Rome, has not been found 
sufficient to destroy the marks of their genius, or entirely 
to obliterate the memory of their deeds, and the monu- 
ments of their greatness. The remains of pyramids, 
dwellings, household utensils, ornaments and weapons, 
lall tend to convince me that the arts once flourished 
upon the spot, where now dwells a listless, idle race of 
Mexicans, retrograding as the year rolls on, even more 
rapidly than the decay of the ruins around them. 

Panuco is the only town above Tampico, on the 
Panuco River, and contains only about four thousand 
inhabitants. It is beautifully located on the banks of 
jthe river, in the state of Yera Cruz, about thirty leagues 
jfrom Tampico, by water, and fifteen by land. It is not 
laid out with any degree of regularity. The streets of 

I 



144 LANGUAGE. 

the town look deserted, and wear a melancholy aspect. 
The houses are of bamboo, with mud walls, which have| 
been once apparently white- washed, and thatched roofs.l 
There are no public buildings, little or no business, andj 
only a few shops, established chiefly for the sale of 
intoxicating liquors. | 

The language spoken by the Indians, in this region,! 
might, with much propriety, be termed an amalgama-| 
tion of many different dialects, in which that of the| 
Huestaco predominates. Father Tapia Zenteno, made 
an effort to render it into form ; — but, he did not suc-| 
ceed very well, — the confusion of tongues being morq 
than a match for his etymological skill. Indeed, 1 
imagine there are few in this region, who would notj 
faint under the task. It might well be taken for a mod^ 
em representation of Babel, or, perhaps, for an abortive 
attempt to harmonize the discordant elements of thai} 
ancient Pandemonium of Tongues. ! 

The learned Mr. Gallatin, the venerable president of i 
the " New York Historical Society," and of the " Eth^ 
nological Society of New York," has recently publishec^ 
in the "Proceedings" of the last mentioned body, a| 
dissertation, in which he shows conclusively, that thel 
languages of North and Central America, belong, gramn 
matically, to the same family, however much they may 
differ in words. | 

We have reason to be grateful, that the researches of! 
the Antiquarian in our own country, have furnished thq 
lovers of Ethnological lore, with much valuable mate- 
rial for the development of a science which has, withiri 
a few short years, arrived at an eminent degree of| 
importance. ! 



SEPULCHRAL EFFIGY. 145 

In the vicinity of the town of Panuco, are ruins of 
ancient places, scattered over an area of several miles. 
Their history is entirely unknown to the inhabitants ; 
nor do any of them, as far as I could learn, manifest 
the slightest curiosity to ascertain who were the build- 
ers, or in what manner they have been exterminated 
from their ancient inheritance. I could not discover 
the trace of a tradition, or conjecture, on the subject, 
among any of the people, though I sought for it with 
great diligence. 

Several days were employed in exploring this neigh- 
borhood, our toils being lightened, occasionally, by the 
discovery of things new and strange. Among the rest, 
there was one, which I deem a very remarkable curios- 
ity ; so much so, that I shall satisfy myself with present- 
ing that to the reader, as the sole representative of the 
ruins of this interesting spot. It was a handsome 
block, or slab of stone, of this form, 
measuring sev^en feet in length, with 
an average of nearly two and a half in width, and one 
foot in thickness. Upon its face, was beautifully 
wrought, in bold relief, the full length figure of a man, 
in a loose robe, with a girdle about his loins, his arms 
crossed on his breast, his head encased in a close cap, 
or casque, resembling the Roman helmet, (as repre- 
sented in the etchings of Pinelli,) without the crest, and 
his feet and ankles bound with the ties of sandals. 

The edges of this block were ornamented with a 
plain raised border, about an inch and a half square, 
making a veiy neat and appropriate finish to the whole. 
The execution was equal to that of the very best that 
'i I have seen among the wonderful relics of this country, 

13 



146 ITS POSITION WHEN DISCOVERED. 

and would reflect no discredit upon the artists of the 
old world. Indeed, I doubt not, that the discovery of 
such a relic among the ruined cities of Italy or Egypt, 
would send a thrill of unwonted delight and surprise 
through all the marvel-hunting circles, and literary 
clubs, of Europe, and make the fortune of the discov- 
erer. The figure is that of a tall, muscular man, of 
the finest proportions. The face, in all its features, is 
of the noblest class of the European, or Caucasian race. 
The robe is represented as made with full sleeves, and 
falling a little below the knees, exposes the fine propor- 
tions of the lower limbs. 

This block, which I regarded with unusual interest, 
and would by all means have brought away with me, 
if it had been in my power, I found lying on the side 
of a ravine, partially resting upon the dilapidated walls 
of an ancient sepulchre, of which nothing now remains 
but a loose pile of hewn stones. It was somewhat 
more than four feet below the present surface of the 
ground, and was brought to light in the course of my 
excavations, having accidently discovered a corner of 
the slab, and the loose stones about it, which were laid I 
open by the rush of waters in the rainy season, break- j 
ing out a new and deep channel to the river. The I 
earth that lay upon it was not an artificial covering. It | 
bore every evidence of being the natural accumulation ii 
of time ; and a very long course of years must have j 
been requisite to give it so deep a burial. i| 

I caused the stone to be raised, and placed in a good ^ 
position for drawing. The engraving on the opposite i 
page is a correct and faithful sketch of this wonder of I 
ancient American art, as I left it. Those of my read- L 



A CONJECTURE. 147 

ers who have visited Europe, will not fail to notice a 
resemblance between this, and the stones that cover the 
tombs of the Knights Templar, in some of the ancient 
churches of the old world. It must not be supposed, 
however strongly the prima facie evidence of the case 
may seem to favor the conjecture, that this resemblance 
aftbrds any conclusive proof, that the work is of Euro- 
pean origin, or of modern date. The material is the 
same as that of all the buildings, and works of art, in 
this vicinity, and the style and workmanship are those 
of the great unknown artists of the Western Hemis- 
phere. 

According to Gomara, it was customary with the 
ancient Americans, to place the figure of a deceased 
king on the " chest" in which his ashes were deposited. 
Is it improbable, when we take into view the progress 
which the arts had made among these unknown 
nations, as evinced by the ruins I have recently visited, 
and others scattered over all this region, that this 
" chest " was sometimes, nay generally, of stone ? That 
it was in fact, in the language of oriental antiquity, a 
sarcophagus? And is it not possible, that the tablet 
which I have here brought to light, is that of one of 
the monarchs of that unknown race, by whom all these 
works were constructed ? I am strongly of opinion 
1 that it is so, and that a further and deeper exploration in 
j the same vicinity, would discover other relics of the same 
I kind, and open to the view of the explorer, the royal 
i cemetery of one of the powerful nations of Anahuac. 
! ' If I am justified in this conjecture, — and it is impos- 
i sible to convey to the reader any adequate impression 
j of the collateral and incidental evidences, which, to one 
I 



148 AN INFERENCE — A CONCLUSION. 

on the spot, spring up at every step, to give color and 
support to such a conjecture, — then may I venture one 
step farther, and infer that the ruins of this vicinity, are 
those of a capital city, a royal residence of one of those 
ancient empires — the seat of its court— the place of the 
sepulchres of its kings. There is nothing either in 
the magnitude and extent of the ruins, or in the traces 
of elaborate art expended in their construction and fin- 
ish, to throw a shade over such an inference. The area 
occupied by them is sufficiently vast for the metropolis 
of any empire, ancient or modern. The ruins are those 
which might have belonged to palaces and temples, as 
magnificent and extensive as any that have yet been 
discovered in the Western World. The style and finish 
of those that are sufficiently preserved to justify an 
opinion, are as elaborate and complete, as the most per- 
fect specimens of ancient American art that have fallen i 
under my observation. While the evidences are not | 
slight, that a vast area of similar remains lies buried I 
under the soil, which, for ages has been accumulating 
upon them, by natural deposit during the rainy seasons, 
and the gradual abrasion of the adjacent mountains. 

If the above inference be deemed admissible, it cannot 
be thought extravagant to conclude, that these ruins are I 
of very ancient date, and belong to the history of a \ 
people, much older than any respecting whom we have > 
any authentic records — a people who had probably 
passed away before the era of the Spanish conquest \ 
It seems to me impossible to come to any other conclu- } 
sion. And I cannot avoid expressing my surprise, at • 
the apparent ease with which some writers have arrived j 
at a different result. As an argument on the subject f 



RUINS ON ALL SIDES. 149 

may not be acceptable to all my readers, I will not 
cumber this part of the work with any further specula- 
tions, but reserve them for a closing chapter, which can 
be omitted by those whose minds are made up, or who 
do not feel interested to go below the surface, in order to 
unravel the enigmas of time. 

There are other ruins, situated south of Panuco, at 
the distance of about three leagues. They are known 
as the ruins of " Cerro Chacuaco." They are repre- 
sented as covering an extent of about three leagues 
square, with unquestionable evidence that they were 
all comprised within the bounds of one vast city. I 
may also mention those of " San Nicholas," distant five 
leagues on the south west, and those of " A la Trinidad," 
about six leagues in nearly the same direction. There 
are also other ruins, of which I obtained some informa- 
tion, at a still greater distance. Indeed, it would appear 
that the whole region is full of them, on every side — 
melancholy memorials of the immense numbers, as well 
as of the mighty power and wealth of the ill-fated race, 
that once flourished here. As far as I could rely upon 
the information received, all these ruins present the 
same general features, as those which I have already 
described. It is probable that they all belong to the 
same period, and were built by the same race ; and the 
evidence is clear to my mind, that that race was much 
more ancient, and further advanced in the arts of civili- 
zed life, than any of the American races now remain- 
ing, or any w^hose history has come down to us. 

It was among the ruins of " Cerro Chacuaco," that 
1 the two vases represented below, were found. They are 
I made of the common clay of the country, well wrought 

i 



150 



A PAIR OF VASES. 



and handsomely formed, and could not have been made 
as they are, without some mechanical contrivance. 
The head on the first and larger one is decidedly that 
of the negro, with low, retreating forehead, flat nose, 
and thick lips. From this circumstance, I should judge 
it to be of recent origin, as there is no evidence that 
any of the African race were ever found in America, 
till they were introduced there as slaves in the sixteenth 
century. The natives, degraded as they are at the pre- 
sent day, are not unskilful in the manufacture of pottery, 
for common uses ; and these, though of a higher finish 
than any that I have seen there, might have been lost, 
or left among the ruins, by some passing traveller. I 
am the more inclined to this opinion, from the circum- 
stance that the people here take no interest whatever in 
examining the ruins, and would never think of going 
beneath the surface, to find anything that might be 
buried under them. I therefore conclude that these 
must have been found in some open place, above 
ground, where they could not have lain many years, 
without crumbling into decay. 




CHAPTER X. 

DISCOVERY OF TALISMANIC PENATES. RETURN BY NIGHT TO 

TAMPICO. 

Speculations upon the images. — Superstitious reliance of the 
natives upon them in seasons of sickness. — Blending of idola- 
tries. — Clue to the solution of a great problem. — Far-fetched 
theories. — The New World peopled from the Old. — Similar- 
ity in the objects and forms of worship, good evidence of 
similarity of origin, — Peculiar ugliness and obesity of many 
of the idols of Asia. — Ugnee, of Hindostan. — Gan, of China. 
— Fottei, of Japan. — Conclusion to be drawn from these 
facts. — Confirmed by the claims of the Chinese to the first 
discovery of America. — Still further by the analogy between 
the languages of America and those of Tartary. — Predilec- 
tion of idolatry for ugliness. — Return by night to Tampico. — 
Eumors of war. — French retailers. — Mexico backing out. 

In the course of my explorations among these interest- 
ing and melancholy relics of by-gone ages, I discovered 
two very singular and grotesque looking images, which 
have given rise to no little speculation in my own 
mind. I have the pleasure of presenting, at the close 
of the chapter, correct drawings of these to the reader. 
The originals are deposited in the museum of the New 
York Historical Society. I had little doubt, when I 



152 SPECULATIONS. 

discovered these images, that they once figured in the 
idolatrous worship of the aboriginal inhabitants of the 
country ; but what place to assign them in that myste- 
rious Pandemonium, — whether to call them god or 
devil, whether to class them with the deities that pre- 
side over the affections, or to give them rank with those 
of a more intellectual character, I have been utterly at 
a loss to conjecture. I have been somewhat inclined, 
of late, to lean to the opinion that they belong to the 
former class, as I found images of the same kind in use 
among the Indian women, who wore them suspended 
about their necks, and attributed to them something 
like a talismanic influence. They are especially relied 
upon in seasons of sickness, — but, whether supposed to 
have power to frighten away, by their pre-eminent 
ugliness, the ugliest shapes of disease, or to conciliate 
the genius of health, by awakening his sympathies for 
the dreadful ills which flesh is heir to, and the mon- 
strous deformities in human frame, which are often the 
result of disease, — or whether the contemplation of 
them is intended to sustain and solace the sufferer, in 
any condition, however lamentable and hideous, to 
which she may have been reduced, by keeping con- 
tinually before her eyes the representation of one more 
hideous and lamentable still, I was not able to deter- 
mine ; nor is it, perhaps, material to the interests of 
science or religion, or the melioration of suffering 
humanity in a more enlightened age, and among more 
civilized races of men, that this point should be settled 
beyond the possibility of a doubt ; since it is by no 
means probable, even if it could be proved, by the most 
incontestable evidence of immberless personal certifi- 



HUMBUGS. 153 

cateSj and well authenticated cases of positive relief, or 
almost miraculous cures, that the ladies of our day, 
and in our highly favored country, could be induced to 
substitute them for the infallible, health-imparting, life- 
restoring panaceas, catholicons, medicated lozenges, 
sugar-crusted pills, vegetable anodyne restoratives, 
medicinal rejuvenescent cordials, magnetic rings, et id 
onmes genus^ whose name is legion, promising immor- 
tal life and beauty to all who are so fortunate as to 
secure a seasonable share of their influence. It was 
not with any view to set up an opposition to this well 
disciplined army of the inveterate and the veteran ene- 
mies to the continued reign of death and disease in our 
world, that I brought home with me some of these 
remarkable images : nor is it with any hope of raising 
a successful competition with regularly-educated, duly 
licensed and long established physicians, whether of 
the old school or the new, whether they administer their 
homoeopathic infinitesmals upon the point of a cambric 
needle, or shovel in their alloepathic doses by the cart- 
load, that I have ventured upon this learned and pro- 
found disquisition upon the remarkable discovery, 
which it was my fortune to make. And I beg leave 
here to give due and solemn notice to all the world, 
that, if this singular accident should chance to be 
the means of introducing a new epoch in American 
therapeutics, I hold myself, my heirs, executors, admin- 
istrators and assigns, utterly and for ever exempt 
from all and singular the consequences and results 
thereof 

In the present use of these talismanic images, there 
is a very singular, and, I am inclined to think, an un- 



154 BLENDING OF IDOLATRIES. 

exampled blending of the old pagan idolatry of the 
Indians, with the image worship of their newly adopted 
religion. They are all, as the reader is no doubt aware, 
regarded as converts to the Christian religion, under 
the instruction of the Priests of the Church of Rome. 
They are, for the most part, very scrupulous in observ- 
ing all the customs and requirements of that church. 
The images I here refer to are hollow, with a small 
aperture near one of the shoulders. They are filled 
with balls, about as large as an ordinary pea, which 
are supposed to have been made of the ashes of victims 
sacrificed, in former days, to these gods. In this man- 
ner they were consecrated to demon- worship. Whether, 
in their present accommodation to a species of Chris- 
tian idolatry, these balls are regarded as a substitute 
for " beads, " or as " relics " of martyrs to a faith in an 
" unknown god " and an unknown form of worship, 
I am unable to say. I only know that the images, 
with their contents, are regarded with a profoundly 
superstitious interest, and relied upon in seasons of 
peculiar peril. 

It may, perhaps, be thought, that I am making too 
much capital out of a very trifling circumstance, if I 
should say, that in the course of my meditations upon 
these ugly little demons, I imagined I had found in them, 
the means of solving one of the great problems which 
have divided and perplexed philosophers, ever since the 
discovery of our continent. But I deny " the soft im- 
peachment ; " I protest strenuously against the unkind 
imputation. If the falling of an apple led Sir Isaac 
Newton to the discovery of one of the great first prin- 
ciples and fundamental laws of nature, — if the clatter- 



FAR FETCHED THEORIES. 155 

ing of the lid of his mother's tea-kettle, unfolded to the 
inquisitive mind of Watt, the powers and mysteries of 
steam^ that semi-omnipotent agent in the affairs of our 
little world, — if the earth's profile, as sketched on the 
disc of the moon in an eclipse, convinced the sagacious 
mind of Columbus, that he could get round on the 
other side, without danger of falling off, — who shall 
presume to say, that this discovery of a pair of ugly 
little personages, belonging to the system of idol divin- 
ities of an unknown race of people, will not prove to the 
inquiring mind of some other, though less profound 
philosopher, the clue by which the great mystery of 
their origin shall at length be effectually solved ? 

I will not answer for it, that my theory in this case 
shall be as far fetched, ingenious or elaborate, as many 
others that have gained the favor and support of learned 
and worthy names. I only engage to make out as good 
a case as some of my predecessors in the same wide 
field ; — those, for example, who have undertaken to show 
that the abroginal inhabitants of America, are the de- 
scendants of Abraham and probably the lost ten tribes, 
who were carried away into Assyria, in what is termed 
the first captivity under Shalmaneser. These learned 
theorists have considered their case fully, and incontes- 
tably made out, when they have discovered ten words 
in a thousand of the language, to bear some distant, 
and, in many cases, fanciful resemblance to words of 
the same import in the ancient Hebrew ; or when they 
have traced, in their religious rites and usages, some 
slight analogies with the imposing ceremonials of the 
Mosaic ritual. In drawing their sage conclusions from 
these attenuated premises, the^^ have not troubled them- 



156 THE NEW WORLD PEOPLED PROM THE OLD. 

selves to consider what an overwhelming effect it wonld 
have upon their theory, to weigh the nine hundred and 
ninety words in a thousand, which have not the most 
distant resemblance to the Hebrew, or the multitude of 
idolatrous rites, and heathenish mummeries, which 
were utterly and irreconcilably at variance with the 
spirit and letter of the ancient Scriptures. It is easy 
enough to make a theory, and to support it manfull}^, as 
long as you can keep your eyes shut to every fact that 
militates against it. But alas ! the great majority of 
such creations vanish as soon as the eyes are opened, 
even as the pageant of a dream vanishes before the 
morning light. 

But, not to lose sight of my own good theory, let us 
return to my little images, and to the thoughts which 
they have suggested, in relation to the long agitated, 
and still unsettled question of the origin of the first 
inhabitants of this continent. In the first place, — I take 
it for granted, that the new world, as it is called, was 
peopled from the old. For, no one who takes the Bible 
as his guide, will suppose that more than one pair 
was created, or doubt that the residence of that fi-rst 
pair, and their immediate descendants, was in Asia. 
And if any one rejects the testimony of the Bible, my 
argument is not intended for him. 

In the second place, — it will be admitted that a close 
correspondence in the forms of worship, and in the 
appearance and character of the objects of worship, is 
one of the best grounds for supposing a similarity of 
origin in any two races of people. There is scarcely 
any thing of which nations are more tenacious, and by 
which they can be more safely recognized and identi- 



UGLINESS DEIFIED. 157 

fied, than the forms and ceremonies of their religion. 
Strange and inexpicable as it is, they change oftener 
and more easily in matters of Faith^ than in matters of 
Form. Nearly three thousand years ago, it was laid 
down as a principle not to be questioned, that the relig- 
ion of a people, especially of idolaters, was not liable to 
sudden and voluntary change. Pass over the isles of 
Chittim and see^ and send unto Kedar^ and consider 
diligently^ and see if there he any such thing. Hath 
a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods ? 
But my jyeofle have changed their glory for that 
which doth not 'profit. 

Now, to bring these principles to bear upon the object 
I have in view, let it be observed, — First, that, in the 
mythology of all the pagan nations, in Asia, many of 
the idols they worship, are the most monstrous and 
hideous deformities imaginable. Ugliness, in every 
conceivable shape, is deified. Secondly, — some of the 
ugliest of these deities are distinguished for their obesity. 
Thirdly, — as an example of these, take JJgnee, the 
regent of fire, among the Hindoos, who is represented 
as a very corpulent man, riding on a goat, with copper 
colored eye brows, beard, hair and eyes. His corpu- 
lency is held by the Brahmins, as an indication of his 
benevolence, and his readiness to grant the desires of his 
worshippers. Fourthly, — among the idols of China, 
some are described as monstrous figures, hideous to 
behold. Among the number is Gan, who has a broad 
face, and a prodigious great belly. Fifthly, — Fottei, 
who is sometimes called Miroku, one of the best, and 
most prominent of the Japanese deities, is represented 
with the same deformity, a huge distended belly. 

14 



158 THE PROBLEM SETTLED. 

Another circumstance, not inapposite to our purpose is 
this, that the worshippers of Miroku, in Japan, expect 
to receive from his benevolent assistance, among other 
good things, health, riches, and children. 

Now, put these facts together, and associate with 
them the facts of the existence of similar images of wor- 
ship among the natives of America, and of the reliance 
of those natives upon them for aid in times of sickness, 
and will it not go far to prove a positive relationship 
between them and the inhabitants of Hindostan, China, 
or Japan ? I trust no one will presume to dispute it, 
after the pains I have taken, and the learning and 
research I have displayed in proving it. The problem 
of ages may be considered as settled. It is no longer a 
vexed question. 

The reader will be pleased to observe, that the 
Japanese god Miroku, is expected to give to his votaries 
health and children. Does not this last circumstance 
bear with unanswerable weight and significancy, upon 
my position ; and prove, beyond the possibility of doubt 
or peradventure, that the Aborigines of America, emi- 
grated from Japan ? The images which I have dis- 
covered, and which form the subject of this erudite 
disquisition, are worn, as I have before remarked, by 
the ivomen of America, in the time of sickness. Now, it 
is an established fact, that, in all nations and in all ages, 
the one great and laudable desire of woman is, that she 
may be blessed with children. For this she suffers, 
and for this she prays. The reliance, therefore, of the 
women of Japan and the women of America, upon 
these ugly-looking, corpulent little demons, to assist 
them in attaining this one prevalent, paramount desire, 



CHINESE DISCOVERIES. 159 

establishes the sameness of their origin, and leaves no 
lingering doubt in my mind, and, of course, none in the 
mind of the intelligent and candid reader, that, wherever 
the meji of those almost exterminated races may have 
come from, they certainly brought their wives from 
Japan. 

If it were desirable to go farther to prove my point, 
I might allude for strong confirmation, to the fact, as 
laid down in an old writer, that the Chinese claim to 
have discovered America, more than two hundred 
years before Columbus attempted to cross the Atlantic. 
It was in the year 1270, that China was overrun by the 
Tartars ; and it is given out, that a body of one hun- 
dred thousand inhabitants, refusing obedience to their 
new masters, set sail, in one thousand ships, to find a 
new country, or perish in the enterprise. The origin 
of Mexico is thus accounted for. And nothing is more 
natural than to suppose, that, in making up so mag- 
nificent an expedition, they would find some of their 
Japanese neighbors desirous to accompany them. 

In addition to this, the learned philologists, who have 
investigated the languages of the Aboriginal nations, 
with a view to tracing their origin, have found, in the 
names of places and things, many striking correspon- 
dencies with the language of Japan. And Barton, one 
of our own countrymen, has published a very elaborate 
treatise on the subject, in which he undertakes, and, as 
he thinks, successfully, to prove, that the language 
originally spoken in both the Americas, are radically 
one and the same with those of the various nations, 
which are known by the general name of Tartars. 

Having got my hand in, and feeling somewhat 



160 TRAVELLING BY NIGHT. 

encouraged by the singular success of the above 
triumphant philosophical disquisition, I am strongly 
tempted to trespass upon the patience of the reader, 
while I proceed to inquire into the probable reasons 
why the worshippers of idols, who have the choosing of 
their own gods, so generally delight in those of gro- 
tesque and ugly shapes, and unseemly proportions. 
Since our fellow-creatures, even our wives and our 
children, are loved and cherished in proportion as they 
are rendered lovely to the sight by the graces of form, 
feature, complexion and expression, how happens it that 
those objects of adoration, who are supposed to preside 
over and control the interest and destinies of men, in 
all their relations to each other, and the dearest objects 
of their affections, should be clothed in forms of the 
most unnatural and disgusting appearance? But I 
forbear. 

I had passed several days among the ruins of 
Panuco. They were days of unusual mental excite- 
ment, and bodily fatigue. There was enough around 
me to occupy and interest me many days longer. But 
I was unprepared for the investigation. I had gratified, 
but by no means satisfied, my curiosity ; and my atten- 
tion was now necessarily turned from the sepulchres 
of the dead, towards the dwellings of the living. I 
gathered up my little stock of relics, consisting chiefly 
of idol images, found among the dilapidated temples 
and dwellings of the. departed, and, with no little diffi- 
culty, conveyed them in safety to " the lady's room." 
Taking a last farewell of this apartment, and of the 
friends who entertained me there, I betook myself again 
to my canoe, bestowing my little demons carefully in 



ARRIVAL AT TAMPICO- 161 

the bottom, and covering them with my hammock, and 
other travelUng apparatus. The voyage down the river 
was as quiet and beautiful as can be conceived. The 
greater part of it was performed at night, under favor 
of a full moon, through fear of being surprised by the 
natives, who, in that event, either from superstition or 
jealousy, would, no doubt, have deprived me of my 
small collection of idols. 

I arrived at Tampico in the early part of April. 
Mine host of the French Hotel was as ready to receive 
me, as on my first arrival in the city, and his " accom- 
modations " were equally inviting. The city was in a 
state of considerable excitement, in consequence of the 
daily expectation of the declaration of War by France. 
The Mexican Congress had, sometime before, passed a 
law, forbidding any foreigner to carry on a retail busi- 
ness in Mexico, after a certain specified time, on peril 
of confiscation. This law deeply afiected the interests 
of a considerable number of Frenchmen, who, under 
the protection of the previous statutes, had established 
themselves in the country, investing their little all in the 
retail business. It was, in fact, a decree of banishment, 
without any alleged fault on their part, and with the 
certain sacrifice of all their property. 

The day arrived when the invidious law was to go 
into efiect. The French retailers, acting under instruc- 
tions from their government, and a promise of protec- 
tion in any event, took a careful inventory of their 
goods, locked up their stores, placed the keys, with the 
certified inventory, in the hands of their Consuls, and 
waited the result. It was a quiet and dignified move- 
ment on the part of France, a sort of silent defiance 



162 RUMORS OF WAR. 

which could not be misunderstood. But it was amus- 
ing to witness the different effects of this state of things, 
upon the different classes of French residents. Some 
of them, with an air of perfect nonchalance, as if fear- 
ing no power on earth, and knowing no anxiety be- 
yond the present moment, improved the season as a 
holy day, a sort of carnival extraordinary, devoted to 
visiting, dancing, and all kinds of sports. Others, of a 
more mercurial temperament, blustered about the 
streets, flourishing their arms with the most violent 
gesticulations, scowling fearfully, swearing huge oaths 
of vengeance, and seemingly taking the entire aflairs 
of the tv/o nations into their own hands. It was a 
windy war. And sure I am, if the Mexican rulers had 
seen the fuming, and heard the sputtering of all these 
miniature volcanoes, they would have felt the seat of 
power tremble beneath them. 

The result of this movement proved, as thousands of 
similar movements have done before, that "wisdom 
is better than weapons of war." The Mexicans were 
completely non-plus^d. The offensive law was not 
violated in any case, and they had no handle for a 
further act of oppression. The foreign residents only 
stood on the defensive, and thus put the government 
in the wrong. They felt their position, and made a 
precipitate retreat. After a few days of awkward 
dalliance, they issued new instructions to the local 
authorities, informing them that they had misinter- 
preted the law, and misunderstood its purport. It Avas 
thus virtually abrogated, and the business of foreigners 
has since been sufiered to flow on in its ordinary 
channels. 



BACKING OUT. 163 

It is not, perhaps, quite as awkward a matter for a 
nation to back out from the position it has dehberately 
taken with reference to another, as for an individual 
to find himself compehed to do the same thing with refer- 
ence to his antagonist. The responsibihty is divided 
among so many — the body pohtic having no soul of its 
own — that there can be little, if any, personal feeling in 
the matter. And patriotism, which is a personal virtue 
wherever it exists, has generally so little to do with 
such movements, that we leave it out of the question 
altogether. But, agreeable or disagreeable, backing out 
is the only safe course, where the weak have given 
offence to the strong. It is a position and a movement 
that poor, divided, distracted Mexico, has become quite 
familiar with. And there is good reason to apprehend 
that she will yet have more experience of the same 
kind. Her present relations to the United States, and 
the ground she has taken in reference to the independ- 
ence and annexation of Texas, leave little room for 
doubt, that she will, ere long, take another lesson in the 
tactics of retreat. As long as private ends are to be 
promoted by it, or the interests of a political clique 
advanced, so long she will bluster and threaten. More 
than this she will never even attempt to do. For the 
most selfish of her political leaders, and the most violent 
of her blustering patriots, knows too much to stake his 
all, and the all of his country, upon the cast of a die, 
which might, by possibility, turn up a war with the 
United States. 

The probability is, with regard to this very law, of 
which I have before spoken, that it was never intended 
to go into full eftect. It was a mere money-getting 



164 



DII PENATES. 



experiment — a contrivance to levy black mail, in the 
name of the state, upon the foreign residents. They 
took it for granted, while passing the law, that the par- 
ties against whose interests it was aimed, would at 
once propose to buy off, and that large bribes would 
be ofiered to secure exemption from its effects. And 
the only chagrin they experienced, in finding them- 
selves out-generaled by a sagacious adversary, arose 
from the necessity of relinquishing the expected booty. 
But let me not longer detain the reader from his 
promised introduction to the Talismanic Images, the 
ugly little divinities of the ancient dames of Anahuac. 
Ecce Dii Penates ! 




CHAPTER XI 



EXCURSION ON THE TAMISSEE RIVER. CHAPOTE, ITS APPEAR- 
ANCE IN THE LAKES AND THE GULF OF MEXICO. 

Once more in a canoe.^The Tamissee river. — Fertility of its 
banks. — Wages on the plantations. — Magnificent trees. — 
Mounds on Carmelote creek. — entertained by a Yankee. — 
Character and condition of the people. — The Chapote. — Ob- 
served on the lakes in the interior of Mexico. — Seen also in 
the Gulf. — Article in Hunt's Merchants' Magazine. — Specu- 
lations of the writer upon the Gulf Stream. — Supposed con- 
nection with the Pacific ocean.— Objections to this theory. — 
Another view of the matter. — Insects. — Return to Tampico. 
The city in mourning. 

It was not enough for me to know that I had 
arrived at Tampico. I soon became uneasy ; and, 
being desirous to make the best use of my time, my 
thoughts were immediately turned upon resuming my 
paddle in some other direction. Accordingly, in the 
evening of an early day, I found myself once more in 
a canoe, with an Indian for a companion, going up the 
Tamissee River, for the purpose of visiting the creeks 
that empty into it at different points, and of ascertaining 
what ruins might be found in their vicinity. 



166 THE TAMISSEE ITS FERTILE BANKS. 

This river rises at the foot of the mountains near 
Victoria, and falls into the Panuco at Tampico. It is 
navigable about forty leagues, for any vessel that can 
pass the bar, at which the depth of water is only eight 
or nine feet. The average depth of the stream is eight 
fathoms, — and a ship of a hundred guns, might haul 
up close to the side of its banks. This river rises and 
falls but little, and there are no towns situated upon its 
margin. Its crystal waters are well stocked with fish, 
of various kinds. The scenery, on either side, is exceed- 
ingly beautiful, opening occasionally, as you pass along, 
the most picturesque landscapes, and then completely 
embowering you in the shade of the luxuriant trees, 
that overhang the stream. 

The borders of the Tamissee, with a soil of exceed- 
ing richness and fertility, are under Indian cultivation, 
and supply the market of Tampico with fruit and 
vegetables. The plantain is in great request there, and 
plantations for cultivating it are numerous and exten- 
sive. Its growth is luxuriant, and its flavor particularly 
rich and agreeable. Sugar cane grows almost sponta- 
neously, and in such abundance that credulity itself is 
staggered at the thought. One planting, without fur- 
ther care or labor, is all that it requires of human 
attention, for fifteen or tAventy years. I measured a 
cane which had been planted nine years. It was vigor- 
ous and thrifty, as if of last year's planting, had grown 
to the enormous length of twenty-one feet, and exhibited 
forty-five joints. The product of the juice, though not 
perhaps in full proportion to the size of the plant, is 
much greater than that of the ordinary cane. Thirty- 
two gallons of the juice will yield no less than twelve 



A DRAWBACK TO PROFITABLE CULTIVATION. 167 

pounds of sugar. This is considered only a fair 
average. That this gigantic cane is in very tall com- 
pany, will be seen from the fact that the bamboo, which 
I have often measured, grows to the height of sixty 
feet. 

Wages, on these plantations, including the amount 
of one dollar allowed in rations of corn, are seven 
dollars per month, which, if properly husbanded, and 
prudently expended, would afford a comfortable sub- 
sistence to the laborer. But the Indians, who perform 
all this kind of labor, are, as I have before had occasion 
to remark, proverbially lazy and shiftless. Great diffi- 
culty is experienced, in all this country, in keeping 
them steadily at any kind of work. To find one of 
them so industrious and thoughtful, as to have any 
thing in advance of the absolute wants of the day, 
would be matter of astonishment. They work only 
when they are hungry, and stop as soon as they are 
fed. The instincts of nature alone can rouse them to 
make any exertion, unless compelled by some superior 
force, or a contract from which they cannot escape. 

The price of the ordinary sugar, in this vicinity, is 
only about two cents per pound ; but the clay-clarified 
is worth from twelve to fourteen cents, a price which, 
it would seem, would amply remunerate the manufac- 
turer. And yet I do not know of an establishment 
of the kind in any section of this country. If any 
enterprising Yankee should take the hint, and realize 
a fortune in the enterprise, I trust he will bear in 
mind, as he retires, that " one good turn deserves 
another." 

In pursuing my different routes through the woods. 



168 THE ROYAL PALM. 

and along the water courses, of Mexico, I have often 
been struck with the immense size, and luxuriant 
foliage of the trees. The BanyaUj or wild fig, in par- 
ticular — of which I had occasion to take some notice 
before — with its numerous gigantic trunks, propping up 
its great lateral branches, from which they had origi- 
nally descended in slender suckers, often covers an 
immense area. Possessing within itself the material 
for a vast forest, it presents to the beholder a magnifi- 
cent and imposing spectacle. From some points of 
view, when favorably situated, it has the aspect of a 
vast natural temple, with its " long drawn aisles " and 
its almost endless colonnades supporting a roof over- 
grown with trees, and walls hung with clustering vines. 
The gloomy recesses within, would seem a fitting altar- 
place for the bloody rites of that dark idolatry, whicE 
once overshadowed these beautiful regions. 

The fan palm, called here palma real or royal palm, 
rises from seventy to eighty feet in height. It is a 
magnificent tree, and whether seen in clusters, or alone, 
is always beautiful. With its tall straight trunk, and its 
richly tufted crown of fringed leaves, waving and trem- 
bling in every breath of air that stirs, and glistening in 
the sun with a beautiful lustre, it has a glory and a 
grace peculiar to itself. It Avas so abundant in this 
region, at the time of the conquest, that the Panuco 
was then called the Rio des Palmas, the River of 
Palms. A great variety of other trees are met w;th 
here, of magnificent size and splendid foliage, waving 
their brilliant branches in the breeze, and presenting 
strong inducements to the traveller continually to 
pause in wonder and admiration. In good sooth, 



EXTENSIVE RUINS. 169 

it may be said that "man is the only thing that 
dwindles here." 

Having hauled up under a tree, made fast our canoe, 
and spread my blanket over me, I passed a comfortable 
night, as I had often done before, in the same primitive 
way. In the morning, I continued on my way two or 
three leagues farther up the river, where I found ruins, 
similar, in their general character, to those I have 
already described. They covered a considerable space, 
and Avere buried in some places, beneath masses of 
vegetable mould, and in others, overgrown with trees 
of immense size and great age. I wandered up and 
down among them, for a considerable time, sometimes 
cutting my way through the thick forest, and some- 
times clambering over piles of broken stones, and long 
dilapidated walls, till I was quite weary with my labors. 
But I made no discoveries of sufficient interest to require 
a particular description. Every thing was so utterly 
ruinous, that it was impossible to trace out the lines of 
a single building, or determine the boundaries of the 
city, in any direction. 

Some distance farther up, on Garmelote Creek, there 
are other ruins, in the midst of which there are seven- 
teen large mounds, of a somewhat peculiar construc- 
tion. Though in a pretty good state of preservation, I 
found that the walls were not built of stone. I pene- 
trated one of them to some distance, but discovered 
nothing but earth and mortar, and broken pieces of 
pottery, with a few rude specimens of carved images, 
cut in concrete sandstone. Some of the latter were 
as large as life. One of these I brought away with 
me ; also several fragments of Penates, some of which 

15 



170 A YANKEE HOME. 

are represented in the engraving at the close of this 
chapter. 

The mortar in these mounds seems to have been 
placed in layers at the bottom of the walls, but for 
what purpose I could not discover. It was not used as 
a cement, for, as I have said, there were no stones to 
be cemented. It was my opinion that these mounds 
were erected as places of burial, but there were no 
bones to be found, nor other traces of human remains. 

At night, I came to a house, which seemed more 
like home than any thing I had seen in Mexico. The 
very sight of it was refreshing to the traveller. 
The arrangements were all made with good taste and 
judgment, and a due regard to comfort. The grounds 
were pleasantly laid out, and beautifully ornamented 
with trees and flowers. On inquiry, I learned, as 
might have been expected, that this inviting looking 
place was built and occupied by a thriving Yankee, 
who had brought with him to Mexico his good notions 
of husbandry and house-keeping. He gave me a 
hearty welcome to his house, and entertained me, for 
the night, with the greatest kindness and hospitality. 
If there were a few more such hospitable, home- 
like resting-places, distributed here and there among 
these interesting regions, it would be vastly more 
agreeable and comfortable to the jaded traveller, who 
attempts to explore their time-honored ruins. 

The native Mexicans, in these parts, are an indolent, 
haughty, overbearing race. Still adhering to the bar- 
barous policy of old Spain, they hold the people of eveiy 
nation except their own, however much they may be m 
advance of them, in utter contempt. They are deci- 



THE "cHAPOTe" in THE LAKES. 171 

dedly the most disagreeable class of people in this coun- 
try. There is little intelligence or information among 
them. Education is at a very low ebb. There are 
some bright exceptions to this general remark ; but they 
are lamentably few and far between. Whether a good 
school-master would be well sustained in this region, is 
a question which I am not prepared to answer ; but cer- 
tain I am he would find ample scope for the exercise of 
his vocation — a native soil wholly unoccupied, except 
with weeds. 

In pursuing my adventures, I stopped frequently at 
the different milpas that lay in the way ; but nothing 
like thrift or comfort was any where visible. A rude 
hovel with mud walls, and a single room, is all they 
aspire to, in the way of a dwelling. The land is rich 
and fruitful to excess, and the lounging, listless Indian 
is the only insurmountable obstacle to its profitable 
cultivation and improvement. In the hands of our 
southern planters, or of the sturdy farmers of the north- 
ern and western states, this whole region would become 
a paradise of perennial fruits and flowers, and teem with 
the golden treasures of every clime under heaven. 

In some of the fresh water lakes, in the interior, the 
" chapote," a species of asphaltum, is found bubbling up 
to the surface. When washed upon the borders, it is 
gathered, and used as a varnish upon the bottoms of 
canoes. It has a peculiar pungent smell, like that of 
liquid asphaltum, and possesses, I think, some of its 
qualities. I have observed a remarkable phenomenon, 
of the same kind, out of sight of land, in the Gulf of 
Mexico, where the waters bubble up in the same manner, 
and accompanied with a similar smell. There can be 



172 THE " CHAPOTE " IN THE GULF. 

no doubt that the ebiilHtion and effluvia observed in the 
Gulf, are the effect of the same cause, which produces 
the asphaltic substance on the surface of the Lakes. 

This Asphaltic deposite in the Gulf, it appears, has 
attracted the notice of others, and from it a theory has 
recently been formed, to account for that hitherto unex- 
plained, or not satisfactorily explained phenomenon, the 
Gulf Stream. The article appears in the August num- 
ber of Hunt's Merchant's Magazine. As I had remarked 
upon the circumstance before that article was published, 
and furnished my remarks to the writer, as a confirma- 
tion of his statements, each of them having been made 
without a knowledge of the other, I think it not amiss 
to present, in this place, the substance of his theory, 
and the reasons upon which it is founded. I shall then 
have an opinion of my own to present, which differs 
materially from his. 

The opinion of the writer is, that the Gulf Stream is 
not caused by the trade winds forcing into the Carib- 
bean Sea, between the South Caribbee Islands and the 
coast of South America, a large quantity of water 
which can only find vent into the North Atlantic, by the 
Florida channel. In his view, there are serious objec- 
tions to this theory. First, the water in the Gulf Stream 
is hotter than that of any part of the Atlantic, under 
the equator, and therefore it cannot be that, Avhich sup- 
plies this never failing current. Secondly, the water of 
the Stream is hotter in deep water, where the current 
begins, or rather where it has become regular and 
strong, than it is in the Gulf, on soundings, where there 
is little or no current, indicating that it comes not from 
the shores, but from the bottom in deep water. 



THEORY OF THE GULF STREAM. 173 

Thirdly, the appearance, in the Gulf, of bubbles of 
asphaltum constantly rising to the surface, and spread 
over it for a considerable distance. It has been collec- 
ted in quantities sufficient to cover vessels chains, and 
other portions of the equipments. It is of a bituminous 
character, offensive to the smell, and becomes hard on 
exposure to the sun, forming a durable varnish, and 
doing better service on iron than any paint. 

Fourthly, the volume of the Gulf Stream is some- 
times so great, that the Florida channel is not sufficient 
to give it outlet, and the excess passes off to the south 
of the Island of Cuba. This has been noticed to such 
an extent, that vessels, in sailing across from Cape 
Catoche, the eastern extremity of Yucatan, to Cape 
Corientes or Antonio, are often driven by it very much 
to the eastward of their course. It is manifest that 
such a current could not exist, if the Gulf Stream were 
supplied by waters driven from that direction, as the 
two currents would counteract and destroy each other. 

From these premises^ the inference of the writer is, 
that nothing less than an ocean subsidiary to the Atlan- 
tic could supply the immense quantity of water, which 
is continually flowing out of the Gulf, with the force of 
an independent stream. And because this portion of the 
Atlantic is separated from the Pacific only by a narrow 
Isthmus, and the water in the Pacific is known to be con- 
stantly higher than that in the Atlantic, a passage under 
the Isthmus would necessarily create a powerful current. 
This passage he supposes to exist, to afford the supply 
necessary to keep the Gulf Stream perpetually in action. 
And, as the regions through which the supposed pas- 
sage is formed, are knov/n to be volcanic, the supposi- 



174 TEMPERATURE OF THE STREAM AND OCEAN. 

tion accounts for the high temperature of the water, as 
well as for the force of the current. 

With regard to the temperature of the water in the 
stream, it is stated, that its average, oif the Capes of 
Florida, is 86^, and in latitude 36, it is 81^ ; while the 
mean temperature of the atmosphere, under the equator, 
is 74^, and of the water of the Atlantic, in the same 
place, not above 60*^. It appears, then, that the water 
of the Stream, in passing out of the Gulf is some 26° 
hotter than that of the ocean, which, under the old 
theory, is supposed to suply it. 

There is an error, either of the author, or of the 
printer, in these figures. The temperature of the Gulf 
Stream is correctly given ; but he has evidently placed 
that of the ocean under the tropics, too low. It does 
not materially affect his argument, however, since it 
is undoubtedly a fact, notwithstanding the assertions 
of another writer, who has undertaken to reply to the 
article in question, that the water of the Gulf Stream, 
after it leaves the tropics, is warmer by some degrees, 
than the average of any part of the ocean under the 
tropics. On this point, the argument in Hunt's Maga- 
zine will not, I imagine, be controverted. 

The suggestion, that the water which constitutes 
this stream, is derived from the Pacific, forced by its 
superior elevation there, through a subterranean pas- 
sage, across or under the Isthmus, is certainly origi- 
nal, and ingenious. But, to my view, it is liable to as 
many objections, as the old one which it is intended to 
displace. It is indeed, as the writer says, a bold con- 
jecture, having nothing to support it, except the vol- 
ume of water required for the constant supply of the 



j OBJECTIONS TO THIS THEORY. 175 

! - 

I great stream, and the asphaltic ebullition, which first 
! suggested the theory, and gave rise to the discussion. 
j Both these circumstances, I imagine, can be disposed 
! of in a very satisfactory manner, without resorting to 
j the supposition of this mysterious communication 
i between the two great oceans. 

It is, in my view, a serious objection to the above- 
named theory, that there is no evidence whatever, on 
the Pacific coast, of any such submarine discharge of 
its surplus waters, as is here supposed. The natural, 
and almost inevitable effect of such an offlet would be 
the formation, at the place of discharge, of a mighty 
whirlpool, another Maelstrom, whose wide sweeping 
eddies would gather into its fearful vortex, and swallow 
up in inevitable destruction, whatever should venture 
within the reach of its influence. Whether such a 
phenomenon exists on that coast, I do not know ; but it 
certainly is not described in any geography, nor laid 
down on any atlas, which has ever fallen under my 
notice. 

Another objection, almost, if not quite as fatal to 
this " bold conjecture," is the fact, that upon the estab- 
lished and well known principles of hydrostatic pres- 
sure, a discharge, such as is here supposed, could not 
long continue without reducing the two oceans to the 
same level. The immense volume of the discharge 
which requires such a conjecture to account for it, 
would surely, in the long course of ages, exhaust the 
surplus in the Pacific, and then the stream would cease 
to flow. So that the fact of the Pacific still maintain- 
ing its elevation, would seem to be conclusive evi- 
dence that no such equalizing communication exists. 



176 FURTHER OBJECTIONS. 

It may be further argued against this new theory, 
and it seems to me with great plausihiMty, that the 
appearance of the " chapote " on the surface of the 
inland lakes, demonstrates the inconclusiveness of 
the main inference, on which the theory is based. 
Wherever the supposed subterranean passage may be, 
the volcanic fires, which are supposed to heat the water, 
and to furnish the asphaltic element, must necessarily 
lie below it; while the passage itself must, with equal 
certainty, lie below the bottom of the lakes. Now, if 
the asphaltic ebullition finds its way up through the 
lakes, would it not, certainly, and from necessity, carry 
the water along with it ? And should we not expect 
to find a jet of salt water in the midst of the lake, or 
such an infusion of salt as to change the character of 
the lake ? 

If it be replied to this, that the level of the lake is 
higher than that of the sea, another, and equally 
formidable difficulty will result. For, as water must 
always find its level, through the same opening by 
which the asphaltum rises, the water of the lake would 
inevitably leak out, and lose itself in the mighty 
cmTcnt. 

While, therefore, I am, equally Avith the writer in the 
Merchants' Magazine, dissatisfied with the old theory 
of water from the south, forced into the Gulf by the 
trade winds, and compelled to find a northern outlet — 
which, from the nature of the case, the formation of 
the land, and the ordinaiy phenomena of the seas where 
it is held to originate, appears, at the first blush, absurd 
and impossible. I am constrained to say that his 
" bold conjecture " deserves no better name than he has 



ANOTHER THEORY. 177 

given it. My own view of the case is, that the true 
cause of this singular phenomenon must be sought in 
the bottom of the Gulf itself — in a perpetual submarine 
volcano, which, like a gigantic cauldron, is for ever 
sending up to the surface its heated currents, mingled 
with bituminous ebullition from the heart of the earth. 
I have taken some pains to examine the water in the 
immediate vicinity of these asphaltic bubbles, and have 
found it always considerably warmer than in any other 
part of the Gulf. It did not occur to me then, to com- 
pare it with the known temperature of the stream, after 
it is formed into a current ; but I have no doubt that it 
will be found so to agree, as to aiford substantial con- 
firmation to these views. 

Neither the ebullition here spoken of, nor the idea of 
submarine volcanoes in the Gulf, is intended to be 
presented as any thing new. The former was observed, 
and commented upon, by several of the early voyagers, 
Avho followed in the track of Columbus, more than 
three hundred years ago. It was then attributed to 
the existence of volcanic fires beneath the bed of the 
ocean. The latter is an opinion long since put forth, 
by some shrewd observer, I know not whom, in whose 
mind the insuperable objections to the old theory 
created a necessity for another and a better. Whether 
it is the true one, it is perhaps impossible for human 
sagacity to say. But that it is far more plausible, 
and more consistent with all the known facts in the 
case, than the other, I think, cannot be denied. 

The insects in this region are inconceivably numer- 
ous and annoying, — so much so, that I was actually 
compelled to relinquish my researches; not however, 



178 



A CITY IN MOURNING. 



until I had very little reason to anticipate any thing 
more of interest. 

Thus defeated, I changed my course ; and, turning 
the head of my canoe towards home, was once again in 
Tampico, but apparently not in the same city, of that 
name, which I had so recently left, to perform my 
pilgrimage to the cities of the dead. 

The place was enveloped in deep mourning. The 
shops were closed, colors were hanging mournfully at 
half-mast, and the officers of the Mexican army were 
engaged in suspending effigies in various parts of the 
town, on which the zealous population might vent their 
pious spite. It was Good Friday ; and the effigies thus 
exposed to the brunt of a well meant, but harmless 
popular indignation, were intended as representatives 
of Judas Iscariot. 




C H A P T E R X 1 1 . 

GENERAL VIEW OF MEXICO, PAST AND PRESENT. SKETCH OF 
THE CAREER OF SANTA ANNA. 

Ancient Mexico. — Its extent. — Its capital. — Its government. — 
Its sovereigns. — The last of a series of American Monarchies. 
— Some evidences of this. — Great antiquity of some of the 
ruins. — Population of Mexico. — Its government as a colony. 
— The Revolution.-^ — Its leaders. — Iturbide.' — Distracted state 
of the country. — Santa Anna. — His public career. — Pedraza. 
— Guerrero.— Barradas at Tampico. — Defeated by Santa 
Anna. — Bustamente. — Pedraza again. — Santa Anna made 
President. — Revolt of Texas and Yucatan. — Battle of San 
Jacinto. — Santa Anna a prisoner. — Released, returns in dis- 
grace. — Out again. — Loses a leg.— Dictator. — President. — 
Put down by Paredes. — Banished. — Probable result. — The 
Press. — Departure for home. 

Hanging Judas Iscariot in effigy, eighteen centuries 
after he had hung himself in despair for his treachery, 
and raising a monumental tablet to Antonio Lopez de 
Santa Anna, seemed to me to be somewhat incongruous 
amusements. But these Mexicans will have their way, 
however strange it may be. Leaving them to choose 
for themselves, in these matters, I propose, before taking 



180 ANCIENT MEXICO. 

leave of Tampico, to give a brief sketch of the history 
and present condition of Mexico, and of the career of 
the singular man, who has acted so prominent a part 
in the revolutions which have recently convulsed that 
unhappy country. 

The ancient Mexico was comprised within much 
narrower limits, than those which now bound the 
Republic. Yet, owing to the remarkable formation of the 
country, beginning with its low plains, and tropical val- 
leys along the sea board, and gradually ascending, pla- 
teau above plateau^ into the region of perpetual- winter, 
it embraced every variety of climate, and yielded almost 
every production, that was known on the face of the 
earth. 

In the midst of one of the most beautiful and luxu- 
riant plateaus, situated midway between the Atlantic 
and the Pacific, and measuring a little more than two 
hundred miles in circumference, with lofty, snow- 
crowned walls on every side, stood the Q.ueen City, 
Tenochtitlan, now called Mexico, the metropolis of the 
Aztec empire, the seat of civilization, of art, of luxury, 
of refinement — " the Venice of the Western world." 
It was founded in the early part of the fourteenth cen- 
tury, and soon became the seat of a flourishing empire, 
and the central point of power to a triad of nations. 
Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, bound together by a 
league of perpetual amity, which was faithfully main- 
tained and preserved through a long period of unex- 
ampled warfare, subdued to their united sway, all the 
neighboring tribes and nations of Anahuac. In process 
of time, the power and influence of Mexico overtopped 
that of its confederates, and Tezcuco and Tlacopan 



ITS IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT. 181 

became little better than tributaries to the central empire 
of the Montezumas. 

The government of this ancient empire was an abso- 
lute monarchy, and was maintained in a style of truly 
Oriental pomp and magnificence. Their monarch sup- 
ported his state with all the proud dignity, and stately 
ceremonial of the most refined courts of the old world. 
His attendants were princes, who waited on him with 
the most obsequious deference. The form of presenta- 
tion was much the same as now prevails in the royal 
saloons of Europe, the subject never presuming to turn 
his back upon the throne, but carefully stepping back- 
ward to the door, in retiring from the royal presence. 
Whether this circumstance is sufficient to prove that 
Europe was peopled from Mexico — an opinion gravely 
put forth, and sturdily maintained, by at least one old 
writer — I shall not now stop to inquire. 

The body-guard of the sovereign was composed of 
the chief nobles of the realm, who, like the great feudal 
lords of Europe, held sway over extensive estates of 
their own, and could call into the field, at any moment, 
an immense army of subject retainers. The royal 
palaces were extensive and magnificent, and comprised 
apartments, not only for the private accommodation of 
the royal household, but for all the great purposes 
of the state — halls of council, treasuries for the public 
revenue, etc. etc. Mexico was indeed a city of palaces, 
interspersed with temples and pyramids, rivalling in 
splendor and luxury, as well as in extent, many of the 
proudest capitals of the Old World. 

This splendid monarchy, which was probably at the 
very acme of its glory, when discovered and overturned 

16 



182 ITS ANCIENT GLORY. 

by the remorseless invaders from Spain, was the last of 
a series of powerful and highly refined dynasties, that 
had successively flourished and passed away, in the 
beautiful regions of Central America. Two mighty 
oceans on the east and west, two mighty continents on 
the north and south, and embracing, in the singular 
arrangement of its slopes and levels, all the climates 
and productions of both and of all, it seems to have been, 
for ages, we know not how far back, the theatre of all 
the art, the seat of all the power, the centre of all the 
refinement and luxury, of the western hemisphere. 
There are some remarkable works of art, and wonder- 
ful traces of ancient civilization in South America, as 
well as some singular remains of a once numerous and 
powerful people in the north. But the Isthmus was 
the Decapolis of Ancient America. " The tabernacles 
of its palaces were planted between the seas, in the glo- 
rious mountain." Here was its Babylon, its Nineveh, 
its Thebes, its Palmyra. And here, splendid in ruins, 
with no voice to tell of their ancient founders, or of the 
millions who once thronged their busy streets, they still 
remain, an instructive but painful lesson on the insta- 
bility of human affairs, the brevity of a terrestrial 
immortality. 

I have said that Mexico was the last of a series of 
splendid monarchies that had flourished, and passed 
away, in Central America. The evidences of the truth 
of this statement are too numerous, and too clear, to 
admit of a doubt. The ruins of extensive and magni- 
ficent cities, which abound on every side, like the 
sepulchres and monuments of the departed, are the 
melancholy memorials, which cannot be gainsayed, of 



EXTENT AND ANTIQ.UITY OF ITS RUINS. 183 

the gigantic power and fruitful resources of the Past. 
Palenque, Copan, and many more in the south — 
Uxmal, Chi-chen, Ticul, Kabah, Mayapan, etc., in the 
central regions of Yucatan — Panuco, Cerro Chacuaco, 
and others without a name, in the north — these are but 
a part of the remains of ancient grandeur that he buried 
under the soil, and hidden in the almost impervious 
forests of this luxuriant chme. Their name is legion. 
Some of them were deserted and in ruins at the period 
of the Spanish Conquest, and are occasionally spoken of 
by the historians of that day with wonder and amaze- 
ment. Some were evidently occupied by other races 
than the builders, inferior in taste and refinement, if not 
in physical power ; and some, though not then in utter 
ruins, were, as at the present day, waste and without 
inhabitant, — 

Desolate, like the dwellings of Moina, — 
The fox looked out of the window, 
The rank grass waved round its head. 

In the remains of these ruined cities, there are not 
only the evidences derived from their different degrees 
of dilapidation and decay, to prove that they originated 
in different and far distant ages, but others which show 
them to be the works of distinct races of people. The 
plan and architecture of the buildings, the style and 
finish of the ornamental parts, the forms and features 
of the sculptured heads, differ as widely as those of 
Egypt and Greece, and as clearly prove the workman- 
ship of different periods, and different artists. Some 
writers have undertaken to trace in these ruins, evi- 
dences of three distinct ages of American civiHzation. 



184 PRESENT CONDITION OF MEXICO. 

Without entering into an argument on the subject, I 
would simply remark, that, whether three, or five, or 
more, no conclusion seems to my mind capable of a 
more perfect substantiation, than this, that these ruins 
extend far back into the remotest ages of antiquity, and 
form a continuous chain of connection between the 
earliest settlers in America, and the Toltecs and Aztecs, 
of whom we have something like authentic history. I 
go farther, and say that this chain is probably complete 
in its parts, though the links are separated, and cannot 
now be brought together again. They are all there, 
but so scattered and confounded together, that he who 
attempts to assign them a place and a date, or to build a 
theory upon their apparent relations to each other, will 
probably soon find himself " in wandering mazes lost," 
and rather amuse, than convince or instruct his 
readers. 

These statements are, for the most part, drawn from 
the most reliable sources, and confirmed, as far as I 
have had opportunity, by my own observation. I shall 
take the liberty to regard them as facts. Intending to 
refer to them in the concluding chapter, and to draw 
from them some inferences in support of the opinions I 
have formed respecting the origin of the ancient Amer- 
ican races, and the probable epoch of the ruins I have 
had the pleasure to explore, I shall make no further 
comment upon them here ; but proceed to a brief 
epitome of the present condition of the empire of the 
Montezumas. 

The population of Mexico is as mixed and various 
as that of any other portion of the globe. It includes, 
at least, seven distinct races. First, the Europeans, or 



j POPULATION AND GOVERNMENT. 185 

j foreign residents, called Chapetones, or Gapuchins. 
' Secondly, Creoles, or native whites of European extrac- 
j tion. Thirdly, the Mestizoes, the offspring of whites 
i and Indians. Fourthly, Mulattoes, the offspring of 
I whites and blacks. Fifthly, the Aboriginal Indians. 
I Sixthly, Negroes. Seventhly, Zamboes, or Chinoes, 
I the offspring of negroes and Indians. There is also a 
I sprinkling of Chinese and Malays, and natives of the 
Canaries, who rank as whites, and are known by the 
general name of Islenos, or Islanders. 

While Mexico remained a colony of Spain, from the 
conquest in 1519, till the Revolution in 1810, all the 
power and influence, and nearly all the wealth, was 
confined to the first class. The revolution transferred 
it to the second, and expatriated the first. And this 
was almost its only result; for it does not seem to 
have been attended with any of the ordinary bless- 
ings of freedom to the common people, either in 
lightening their burdens, or elevating their moral con- 
dition. 

The government of the colony was that of a Viceroy, 
the proud servant of a proud master in Spain, and 
amenable only to him for his acts. The people had no 
voice either of council or remonstrance. It was pas- 
sive submission to absolute power. Whether that 
power became more severe and oppressive, in the early 
part of the present century, than it had been, or whether 
the increased numbers, wealth and ambition of the 
Creoles induced a desire to take the power into their 
own hands, or whether it was the mere contagion of 
rebellion and independence, diffusing itself over a con- 
tinent reserved as " the area of Freedom," and separated 



186 THE REVOLUTION ITURBIDE. 

by wide oceans from the despotisms of the Old World, 
it is not easy now to decide. The struggle was long 
and severe. Monarchy held on to the golden moun- 
tains of Mexico with a desperate though feeble grasp. 
Independence was declared, by the congress of Mexico, 
in 1813, but it was not finally and fully achieved until 
1829, when the Spanish residents were expelled from 
the country. 

The contest for independence, as is usually the case, 
brought out the patriotism, talent and genius of the 
native population. Several of the leaders distinguished 
themselves in the eyes of the world. Among the most 
prominent were Guerrero, Hidalgo, Moreles and Vic- 
toria. 

In 1820, the Viceroy, who was still struggling to sup- 
port the tottering throne, commissioned General Itur- 
bide, who had been successful in several engagements 
with the Creoles, to reduce them to submission. Itur- 
bide was born to be a traitor. No sooner was the army 
placed at his control, than he betrayed his trust, joined 
the cause of the revolutionists, and proclaimed Mexico 
independent. This was in 1821. A congress assem- 
bled in 1822, to form a constitution. But Iturbide, 
traitor to the cause he had just adopted, caused himself 
to be proclaimed Emperor, under the title of Augustin 
the First. Opposed by a powerful and resolute part}^, 
rendered desperate by their success hitherto, this self- 
constituted Emperor was compelled to abdicate in the 
course of a year, and retire to Europe, the proper thea- 
tre for legitimate tyrants. Returning to Mexico in 1824, 
with a view, as was supposed, to avail himself of the 
distractions of the country, to assert anew his claims to 



INTERNAL COMMOTIONS. 187 

the imperial dignity, he was seized and shot, as soon as 
he had landed. 

From the first outbreak of the Revolution to the 
present time, Mexico has been torn and distracted with 
internal wars. The long struggle for Independence, 
was succeeded, as soon as that end was achieved, by 
other and more bitter struggles for personal or party 
ascendency. A constitution was adopted in 1823. 
The government established by it, is a confederated 
Republic, modelled in most respects, after that of the 
United States — a government exactly suited to make an 
intelligent and virtuous people happy, but not adapted 
to a community composed of restless, unprincipled, 
ambitious factionists, on the one hand, and an ignorant, 
bigoted rabble, on the other. Faction after faction has 
arisen, plan after plan has been proposed, adopted, and 
instantly discarded for another, till it has become as 
difficult to say what is, or has been at any particular 
period, the actual government of Mexico, as to predict 
what it will be to-morrow. If the intelligence of the 
people had been such as to justify the comparison, — if 
there had been more real patriotism, more sincere love 
of liberty among the principal actors in these bloody 
dramas, one might say, that the Florentine Histories of 
the middle ages had been re-enacted in Mexico. How 
difierent the struggle, both in its manner and in its 
results, in our own blessed land. But let us not triumph 
over our less favored and weaker neighbors. Let us 
rather devoutly thank heaven that our fathers loved 
liberty more than power, and laid broad and deep the 
foundations of intelligence, virtue and religion, — not 
superstition, and a bigoted devotion to forms, or a blind 



188 SANTA ANNA. 

submission to ecclesiastical authority, but the religion 
which recognizes God as supreme, and all men as 
equal, — on which to raise the glorious superstructure 
of rational freedom. Let us see to it, that, while we 
enlarge the superstructure, we do not neglect the foun- 
dations. 

It was during the temporary ascendency of Iturbide, 
that Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, now more notorious 
than illustrious, became a conspicuous actor on this 
turbulent stage. He was a native of the department of 
Vera Cruz. Here, without enjoying any adventitious 
advantages of birth or family, he succeeded, by his tal- 
ents and industry, in securing great local influence, and 
gradually rose to wealth and power. Except Bolivar, 
there is, perhaps, no one among the many distinguished 
agitators of Spanish America, whose career has been 
signalized by so many extraordinary vicissitudes of 
good and evil fortune, or who has filled so large a space 
in the eye of the world, as Santa Anna. 

On the promulgation by Iturbide of the plan of 
Iguala, (February 24, 1821,) Santa Anna, at the head 
of the irregular forces of the neighborhood, succeeded 
by a coup de main, in driving the Spaniards out of 
Vera Cruz, of which he was immediately appointed 
governor. The Spaniards, however, still held the cas- 
tle of San Juan de Ulloa, from which they were not for 
a long time dislodged ; and, of course, Santa Anna's 
position was one of great importance. 

Meanwhile, differences arose between Santa Anna 
and the Emperor Augustin, who had come down to 
Jalapa to direct the operations against the Spaniards. 
Santa Anna repaired to Jalapa to confer with Iturbide ; 



VICTORIA — SANTA ANNA RETIRES PEDRAZA. 189 

and, being treated harshly, and deprived of his com- 
mand, immediately left Jalapa, hurried back to Vera 
Cruz, in anticipation of the intelligence of his disgrace, 
raised the standard of revolt, and, by means of his per- 
sonal authority with the troops of the garrison, com- 
menced hostilities with the Emperor. Thereupon 
Guadalupe Victoria, whose name was endeared to the 
Mexicans by his previous unsuccessful efforts in the 
revolution, and who was living concealed in the moun- 
tains, emerged from his hiding place, called around him 
his old republican companions in arms, expelled Itur- 
bide, and established the Mexican republic with a fed- 
eral constitution, in imitation of that of the United 
States. 

Santa Anna, who, by first taking up arms, had con- 
tributed so largely to this result, thinking himself not 
duly considered in the new arrangements, sailed from 
Vera Cruz with a small force March 1823, and landing 
at Tampico, advanced through the country to San Luis 
Potosi, assuming to be protector of the new republic. 
But not possessing influence enough to maintain him- 
self in this attitude, he was compelled to submit to the 
government, and to remain for several years in retire- 
ment at Manga de Clavo. 

The termination of Victoria's presidency, however, 
in 1828, enabled Santa Anna to re-appear on the stage. 
Pedraza had been regularly elected President ; on hear- 
ing of which, Santa Anna rose in arms, and by a rapid 
march, seized upon and intrenched himself in the castle 
of Perote. Here he published a plan, the basis of 
which was to annul the election of Pedraza, and confer 
the presidency on Guerrero. But, being successfully 



190 BARE.ADAS BUSTAMENTE. 

attacked here by the government forces, he was coik 
pelled to flee, and took refuge in the mountains of 
Oajaca, to all appearance an outlaw and a ruined man. 
The signal of revolution, however, which he had given 
at Perote, was followed up with more success in other 
parts of the country. 

Pedraza was at length driven into exile, Guerrero 
was declared President in his place, and Santa Anna 
was appointed to the command of the very army sent 
against him, and to the government of Yera Cruz, and 
after the inauguration of Guerrero, April 1829, he be- 
came Secretary of War. 

While these events were in progress, the Spanish 
government was organizing its last invasion of Mexico. 
Barradas, the commander of the Spanish forces, landing 
at Tampico, July 27, 1829. Santa Anna was entrusted 
with the command of the Mexican troops, and at 
length compelled the Spaniards to capitulate, Sep- 
tember 11, 1829, which put an end to the war ol inde- 
pendence. 

Guerrero had been in office but a few months, when 
another revolution broke out. The Yice-President, 
Bustamente, gathered a force at Jalapa, and pronounced 
against Guerrero, December 1829, who was at length 
taken prisoner, and executed for treason ; Bustamente 
assuming the presidency. 

Santa Anna, after feebly resisting, had at length 
joined, or at least acquiesced in, the movement of Busta- 
mente ; and remained in retirement for two or three 
years, until, in 1832, he on a sudden pronounced against 
the government, compelled Bustamente to flee, and 
brought back Pedraza fi'om exile, to serve out the 



SANTA ANNA PRESIDENT — SAN JACINTO. 191 

remaining three months of the term for which he had 
been elected to the presidency. 

In the progress of events, Santa Anna had now 
acquired sufficient importance to desist from the func- 
tion of President maker, and to become himself Presi- 
dent. This took place in May, 1833. His presidency 
was filled with pronunciamentos and civil wars, which 
produced the consummation of the overthrow of the 
federal constitution of 1824, and the adoption, in 1836, 
of a central constitution. 

Though most of the Mexican States acquiesced in 
the violent changes, by which they were reduced to 
mere departments, under the control of military com- 
mandants, Texas on the northeast, and Yucatan on the 
southeast, refused to submit to the military dominion 
of whatever faction of the army might happen to hold 
power in the city of Mexico : and Santa Anna at length 
took command in person of the army organized for the 
reduction of Texas. The battle of San Jacinto, the cap- 
ture of Santa Anna, his release by Houston on condi- 
tions, which he afterwards refused to fulfil, his visit to 
this country, and his subsequent return to Mexico, are 
events familiarly known in the United States. 

When Santa Anna marched on Texas, first Barra- 
gan, and then Coro, exercised the functions of the 
presidency for a while, until, under the new constitu- 
tion, Bustamente, having returned from exile, was 
elected President ; the temporary unpopularity of Santa 
Anna, and his retirement in disgrace to Manga de 
Clavo, having left the field open to the friends of Bus- 
tamente. 

Sundry pronunciamentos followed ; of which, one of 



192 SANTA ANNA DICTATOR AND PRESIDENT. 

the most dangerous, headed by Mejia, gave to Santa 
Anna the opportunity of emerging from his retirement. 
He vanquished Mejia, and caused him to he shot on 
the field of battle. This exploit gave to Santa Anna a 
new start in public affairs ; so that when the French 
Government, in 1838, resolved to punish Mexico for its 
multiplied aggressions on the subjects of France in 
Mexico, and proceeded to attack Yera Cruz, the com- 
mand of the Mexican troops were committed to Santa 
Anna. On this occasion he received a wound, which 
rendered the amputation of one of his legs necessary ; 
and his services, at this time, seemed to have effaced, 
in the eyes of the Mexicans, the disgrace of his defeat 
at San Jacinto. 

Santa Anna took no part in the unsuccessful move- 
ment of Urrea against Bustamente, in 1840 ; but in 1841, 
there broke out a revolution, commenced by Paredes, 
at Guadalajara, into which Santa Anna threw himself 
with so much vigor and zeal, that Bustamente was 
again compelled to flee, and the plan of Tacubaya, 
with the agreement of La Estanzuela, was adopted ; 
in virtue of which, the constitution of 1836 was abol- 
ished, and Santa Anna himself was invested with the 
powers of dictator, for the purpose of re-constituting 
the republic. 

Under these auspices, and amid all the calamities 
of a protracted but unsuccessful attempt to reduce 
Yucatan to submission, (for Yucatan at length made 
its own terms,) a new constitution was adopted, June 
13, 1843, entitled, " Basis of Political organization of 
the Mexican Republic," and Santa Anna Avas elected 
President. 



PAREDES — HERRERA SANTA ANNA BANISHED. 193 

Santa Anna resigned his dictatorship, and entfered 
upon office as the new President, in January, 1 844 ; 
but before the expiration of the year, Paredes again 
pronounced at Guadalajara, and this time against 
Santa Anna. The chief ostensible causes of this 
movement, were various administrative abuses com- 
mitted by Santa Anna and his ministers, and especially 
an abortive attempt of his administration to raise 
money for an expedition against Texas. When the 
revolution broke out, Santa Anna was at Magna de 
Clavo, the presidency being provisionally held, during 
his absence from the capital, by Canalizo. lastantly, 
on hearing the tidings of the movement at Guadala- 
jara, Santa Anna, in open violation of one of the arti- 
cles of the new organic basis, was placed in command 
of the army, and rapidly traversed the republic, from 
Jalapa to Glueretara, with all the forces he could raise^ 
to encounter Paredes. But the departments which he 
had left behind him speedily revolted, not excepting even 
Vera Cruz ; and though his faction in the capital, 
including Canalizo and the ministers, endeavored to 
sustain him by proclaiming him dictator, their efforts 
were vain. He was compelled to retrograde, and at 
length was routed, and obliged to surrender himself a 
captive to the new administration, headed by Herrera, 
which has released him with the penalty of ten years' 
exile. 

Defeated, banished, and in disgrace with the world, 
it is still difficult to determine what will be the ulti- 
mate fate of this hero of half a score of revolutions. 
He is now, or, more properly speaking, he was when 
last heard from, living in luxurious retirement, on one 
17 



194 MEXICAN LITERATURE— VEYTIA — CLAVIGERO- 

of the most splendid estates in Cuba, a few miles from 
Havana. With immense wealth at his command, 
ambitious as ever of power, he is but waiting a favor- 
able opportunity to thrust himself again into the 
quarrels of his ill-fated country. Money will accom- 
plish any thing there, good or evil. And if, through 
any of his emissaries, he can once more gain access 
to the army, one year's income from his rich estates 
will buy them over to a new revolution, and the exiled 
dictator will once more place his wooden foot upon 
the necks of his conquerors, and of the people. This 
may be his position before the expiration of the 
present year. It may be, before the ink is dry which 
records the peradventure. It may be, at this very mo- 
ment. " Nous verrons ce que nous verronsP 

Of literature, properly speaking, there is none in I 
Mexico. There are a few scholars and learned j 
men, in the church and at the bar. But their pres- I 
ence is not felt, their weight is not realized, in any ! 
estimate we attempt to make of the national character. ' 

Yeytia, a native of Puebla, who flourished about the | 
middle of the last century, has done much to illustrate | 
the early history of the nations of Anahuac ; tracing i 
out, with great patience and fidelity, the various migra- ] 
tions of its principal races, and throwing much light on I 
their history and works. He was an industrious able \ 
critic, and though but little known, deserves the highest I 
credit for his valuable contributions to ancient American I 
literature. ' 

Clavigero, a native of Vera Cruz, a voluminous and i 
elaborate writer on the same subject, whose works are I 
well known and highly approved, has rectified m.any of ' 



GAMA — THE PRESS. 195 

the inaccuracies of foreign writers, and done much to 
concentrate the scattered rays of native tradition, and 
give form and substance to previous antiquarian re- 
searches. 

Antonio Gama, a native of Mexico, and a lawyer, 
was a ripe scholar, distinguished for patient investiga- 
tion, severe accuracy, and an impartial desire to arrive 
at the truth, without reference to a preconceived opinion 
or theory. He was a thorough master of some of the 
native languages, and, to an extent as great as the 
nature of the case admitted, of the native traditions and 
hieroglyphics. These, together with their systems of 
arithmetic, astronomy and chronology, he has illus- 
trated with uncommon acuteness and ability. His 
works are but little known, but of great value to those 
who would follow a safe guide amid the labyrinths of 
antiquarian lore. 

Other worthy names might be added to these. But 
let these suffice to show that there is nothing in the 
climate unfavorable to letters. It is a rich, a glorious 
field ; but, trampled by tyranny, or convulsed with rev- 
olutions and civil wars, there has scarcely been a mo- 
ment, during the present century, when the scholar, 
however much disposed to retirement, could close the 
door of his study^ and feel himself secure from inter- 
ruption. It is hardly fair, therefore, to measure the 
literary capacity of Mexico, by its present fruits, or to 
judge of her scholars by the issues of the Press in such 
turbulent times. 

There are but few newspapers in the country, and 
these are not conducted with the most consummate 
ability. The bombastic, bragadocio style, with which 



196 READY TO DEPART. 

they are often inflated, if it be not intended for carrica- 
ture, might almost vie with Baron Munchausen's hap- 
piest specimens of that kind of composition. The com- 
ments of the government organ, pubhshed at the capi- 
tal, are often extremely bitter upon every thing which 
relates to the United States. In some remarks respect- 
ing the monument commemorating the battle of Bunker 
Hill, the editor observes, — " The people of Boston make 
much ado about its completion " — and then adds, — " if 
Mexico should raise monuments for all such trivial 
occurrences in her history, the whole country would be 
filled with them." A little farther on, speaking of the 
Peninsular War, he says, — " they may do — but Wel- 
lington never yet knew what it was to face a breast- 
work of Mexican bayonets." ! ! ! Alas ! for Wellington, 
and the glory of British arms ! What was Waterloo 
to San Jacinto ! 

On preparing to leave Tampico, I experienced con- 
siderable difficulty, and no small expense in procuring 
the necessary passports. Stamps, for permits of bag- 
gage, were required. My baggage had to undergo a 
very annoying examination, with a view to the discov- 
ery of specie that might be concealed therewith, which 
pays an export duty of six per cent. To such a pro- 
voking extent is this examination carried, that the inso- 
lent officers thrust their hands, like Arabs, into the bot- 
toms of your pockets, in pursuit of your small loose 
change. 

I took passage in the Mexican schooner Belle Isabel, 
for New Orleans, in company with twenty other pas- 
sengers. We embarked in the river, and, though 
hoping for a short passage, it was with sensations of 



DETAINED — KINDNESS OF THE AM. CONSUL. 197 

discomfort, amounting almost to consternation, that I 
ascertained, after every thing was on board, that water 
and provisions had been laid in, sufficient only for a 
passage of forty-eight hours. After protesting to the 
American Consul, and lodging my complaint with the 
Captain of the port, against the villainous purpose of 
the master and consignee of the vessel, to put us upon 
allowance, and experiencing much delay, some further 
supplies were sent on board. We remained in the 
river some time, being unable to pass the bar, in conse- 
quence of the shallowness of the water in the channel. 
The annoyances experienced from the vermin, with 
which the vessel abounded, and the motley character 
of the passengers, made up of negroes, mulattoes, and 
Mexicans, rendered my position quite intolerable ; and 
even sickness, which filled up the measure of my trou- 
bles, was a not unwelcome excuse for parting- with such 
disagreeable associates. 

This aifords me a favorable opportunity, and I 
embrace it with heartfelt pleasure, of paying, in part, a 
debt of gratitude to Captain Chase, the American Con- 
sul at Tampico, and his accomplished and kind-hearted 
lady, who, during a severe and protracted illness, 
attended me with a kindness that will not soon be for- 
gotten. The tender and patient attentions, which they 
bestowed upon a sick countryman, in a strange land, 
were such as might have been expected from a brother 
and sister, and were rendered doubly valuable to the 
recipient, by the full hearted cheerfulness and benevo- 
lence which characterized them. God bless them both ! 
May they never want a friend and comforter in any of 
the trials that may fall to their lot. 



198 AT HOME. 

More fortunate in my next attempt to leave Tampico, 
I secured a passage in the Pilot Boat Virginia, and, 
after a short and agreeable voyage, arrived at the Cres- 
cent City on the 8th of June, satisfied, for the present, 
with my adventures, and glad to greet the kind faces 
of familiar friends, and share the comforts which can 
only be found at home. 

At home ! yes, here I am once more, in my own 
quiet home, having performed three voyages by sea, 
embracing a distance of some two thousand miles, 
besides sundry rambles and pilgrimages in the interior, 
and all this, with only two " hair- breadth 'scapes by 
field or flood" — scarcely enough, I fear, to spice my 
narrative to the taste of the age. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

- THE TWO AMERICAN RIDDLES. 

Humboldt's caution. — Antiquities of the Old World long involved 
in mystery, now explained. Ancient ruins never fully realized 
by description. — The two extremes of theorists. — A medium. 
— My own conclusion. — Reasons for it. — 1. Absence of Tra- 
dition. — Necessity and importance of tradition. — Most likely 
to be found among the Aztecs. — An attempt to account for 
its absence.^- Answered.— The Toltecs and their works. — A 
choice of conclusions. — 2. Character and condition of ruins. 
— Widely different from each other. — The works of different 
and distant ages. — Probable origin of the people. — One uni- 
versal tradition, its relevancy to the question. — Variety of 
opinions. — Variety of ancient works. — Conclusion. 

The great problems of the origin of the American races, 
and of American civiHzation, though vohimes have 
been written upon them, are yet unsolved. Whether, 
according to the inquisitive and sagacious Humboldt, we 
ought to regard it as lying " without the limits prescribed 
to history, and even beyond the range of philosophical 
investigation," or whether we may look upon it as still 
open to the examination of those who are curious in 
ancient lore, must be determined rather by the ultimate 
result of our discoveries, and of the speculations based 



200 ORIENTAL ANTIQ.UITIES RECENTLY EXPLAINED. 

upon them, than upon the exaggerated notions of the 
difficulty of the question, which the first confused rev- 
elations of the travelled enquirer may seem to suggest. 

I am by no means convinced in my own mind, that 
this question is one which cannot now be reached, or 
which must be looked upon as every year receding far- 
ther and farther from our grasp. The antiquities of the 
old world, buried for so many ages in midnight oblivion, 
had remained through a long course of centuries, the 
standing enigma of Time. With the help even of some 
imperfect records from the archives of ancient history, 
and the aid of what seemed to be a fair line of tradi- 
tion, the origin and purpose of many of them, and the 
hidden meaning of their hieroglyphical embellishments, 
had continued to be an inexplicable mystery quite down 
to our own times. Much learned investigation, from 
acute observers, and profound reasoners, had been 
expended upon them, without arriving at any satisfac- 
tory result. And yet, after all, the nineteenth century 
has expounded the riddle. The lapse of ages, instead 
of scattering beyond recovery the dim, uncertain twi- 
light that hung about these august monuments of the 
solemn Past, has miraculously preserved it, as it were 
embalmed by a magic spiritual photography, to be con- 
centrated into a halo of glory around the brow of 
Champollion. May it not be so with the now myste- 
rious relics of the ancient races of America? 

It may be remarked, and I think the remark cannot 
fail to commend itself to the good sense of every reflect- 
ing mind, that no description, however perfect, or how- 
ever faithfully and ably illustrated by the art of the 
engraver, can convey any adequate idea of the charac- 



THE TWO EXTREMES OF THEORISTS. 201 

ter of these ruins, or furnish, to one who has not seen 
them with his own eyes, the basis of a rational argu- 
ment upon their origin. Were it possible to transport 
them entire to our own fields, and reconstruct them 
there, in all their primitive grandeur and beauty, it 
would not help us to solve the mystery — it would not 
convey to us any just notion of what they have been, 
or what they are. To be realized and understood, they 
must be studied where they are, amid the oppressive 
solitude of their ancient sites, surrounded with the 
luxuriant vegetation and picturesque scenery of their 
native clime, the clear transparent heaven of the 
tropics above them, and their own unwritten, unbor- 
rowed associations lingering dimly about them. 

There are two errors, lying at the two extremes of 
the broad area of philosophical inquiry, into which 
men are liable to fall, in undertaking the discussion 
of questions of this nature. The one leads to hasty 
conclusions upon imperfect, ill-digested premises ; the 
other shrinks from all conclusions, however well sup- 
ported, and labors only to deepen the shadows of mys- 
tery, which hang about its subject. One forms a shal- 
low theory of his own, suggested by the first object he 
meets with on entering the field — or, perhaps borrows 
that of some equally superficial observer who had gone 
before him, or even of some cloistered speculator, who 
has never ventured beyond the four walls of his own 
narrow study — and, clinging to it with the tenacity of a 
parental instinct to its first born impression, sees noth- 
ing, hears nothing, conceives nothing, however palpa- 
ble and necessary, that will not illustrate and aggran- 
dize his one idea. The most convincing proofs are 



202 A MEDIUM COURSE. 

lost upon him. Demonstration assails him in vain. 
He started with his conclusion in his hand, and it is 
no marvel if he comes back as ignorant as he 
went, having added nothing to his argument, but the 
courage to push it somewhat more boldly than before. 

Another enters the field, thoroughly convinced that 
it is impossible to come to any conclusion at all. He 
fears to see any thing decisive, lest it should compel 
him to favor an opinion. He dreads an object that 
suggests a definite idea, lest it should draw him per- 
force to support some tangible theory. He stumbles 
blindfold over palpable facts, and clearly defined analo- 
gies, and converses only with shadows. His philosophy 
consists in leaning to whatever embarrasses a conclu- 
sion, and following only those contradictory lights, 
which perplex the judgment, and prevent it from 
arriving at a precise and positive inference. 

Unsafe as it is to trust to the guidance of a mere 
theorist, there is little satisfaction in attempting to 
follow the timid lead of the universal doubter. Is it 
not possible to find a medium course ? — to proceed with 
philosophic prudence and caution, taking due heed to 
all our steps, and yet to look facts and analogies boldly 
in the face, listen fearlessly to all their suggestions, col- 
late, compare, and digest every hint and intimation 
they put forth, and venture, without exposing ourselves 
to the uncharitable imputation of dogmatism, to form and 
express a definite opinion ? If any thing would deter 
me from so bold a step, it would be the formidable array 
of eminent names in the list of the doubters. When 
so many of the wisest have given it up as hopeless, it 
requires no less courage than skill to assume to be an 



MY OWN CONCLUSIONS. 203 

CEdipus. But, having already, on a former occasion, 
been driven to a positive inference from the narrow 
premises afforded by the question, and being answer- 
able therefor at the bar of public criticism, I have less 
at stake than I should otherwise have, upon the opinion 
which I have now to offer. 

I am free to acknowledge then, that the impressions 
formed by my first " rambles " among the ruined cities 
of Yucatan, have been fully confirmed by what I have 
now been permitted to see in Mexico. I am compelled, 
in view of all the facts and analogies which they pre- 
sent, to assign those ruins, and the people who con- 
structed them, to a very remote antiquity. They are 
the works of a people who have long since passed 
away, and not of the races, or the progenitors of the 
races, who inhabited the country, at the epoch of the 
discovery. 

To this conclusion I am led, or rather driven, by a 
variety of considerations, which I Avill endeavor to state, 
with as much brevity and conciseness as the nature of 
the case will admit. 

The first consideration to which I shall allude, in 
support of the opinion above expressed, is the absence 
of all tradition respecting the origin of these buildings, 
and the people by whom they were erected. Among 
all the Indian tribes in all Central America, it is not 
known that there is a solitary tradition, that can throw 
a gleam of light over the obscurity that hangs about 
this question. The inference would seem to be natural 
and irresistible, that the listless, unintellectual, unam- 
bitious race of men, who for centuries have lingered 
about these ruins, not only without knowing, but with- 



204 NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF TRADITION. 

out caring to know, who built them, cannot be the 
descendants, nor in any way related to the descendants, 
of the builders. Tradition is one of the natural and 
necessary elements of the primitive stages of society. 
Its foundations are laid deep in the social nature of 
man. And it is only because it is supplanted by other 
and more perfect means of transmission, as civilization 
advances, that it is not, always and every where, the 
only channel of communication with the past, the only 
link between the living and the dead. In all ages, 
among all nations, where written records have been 
wanting, tradition has supplied the blank, and, genera- 
tion after generation, the stor}^ of the past has been 
transmitted from father to son, and celebrated in the 
song of the wandering bard, till, at length, history has 
seized the shadowy phantom, and given it a place and 
a name on her enduring scroll. This is the fountain 
head of all ancient history. True, it is often so 
blended with the fabulous inventions of poetry, that it 
is not always easy to sift out the truth from the fiction. 
Still, it is relied upon in the absence of records : while 
the very fable itself is made subservient to truth, by 
shadowing forth, in impressive imagery and graceful 
drapery, her real form and lineaments. What else 
than fable is the early history of Rome ? 

Now, if these ruins of America are of comparatively 
modern date, if, as some have undertaken to show, 
they were constructed and occupied by the not very 
remote ancestors of the Indian races who now dwell 
among them, in a state of abject poverty and servitude, 
is it reasonable, is it conceivable, that there should not 
be found a man among them acquainted with their 



THE AZTECS AN IMAGINATIVE PEOPLE. 205 

ancient story, claiming affinity with their builders, and 
rehearsing in song, or fable. 

The marvels of the olden time ? 

With these splendid and solemn reminiscences always 
before their eyes, with all the hallowed and affecting 
associations that ever linger about the ancient homes of 
a cultivated people, — the temples of its worship, the 
palaces of its kings and nobles, the sepulchres of its 
founders and fathers, always present and constantly 
renewed to their minds, is it possible they could, in 
three brief centuries, forget the tale, and lose every 
clue to their own so gloriously illustrated history. I 
cannot admit it. I cannot conceive of it. 

The attempt to lay aside, or narrow down, this argu- 
ment from tradition, or the absence of it, in order to 
arrive at an easy explanation of the mystery of these 
ruined cities, appears to me to be unphilosophical in 
another point of view. If I understand aright the 
character and history of the people who once flourished 
here, this is just the region, and they are just the 
people, where this kind of evidence would exist and 
abound. The Astecs were a highly imaginative and 
poetical people. The picture writing, which prevailed 
among them, and in which they had attained so high 
a degree of perfection, was precisely the material on 
which to build traditionary lore, and cultivate a taste 
for it among the common people. It was the poetry of 
hieroglyphics — a national literature of tropes and figures. 
It selected a few prominent comprehensive images, as 
the representatives of great events. Strongly drawn 
and highly colored, these would impress themselves 

18 



206 SUPPOSED EFFECT OF THE CONGtUEST. 

powerfully on the minds and memories of the people, 
and be associated with all that was dear to their hearts. 
Their personal histories, their family distinctions, their 
national pride, would all be involved in them, and all 
have a part in securing their faithful preservation and 
transmission. Inexhaustible fountains of national song 
and poetical fable, they would be recited in their public 
assemblies, and handed down from generation to gene- 
ration. They would be to America what the Homeric 
poems were to Greece, and many long ages would not 
obliterate or destroy them. 

It has been argued, by way of anticipating such 
views as these, that the unexampled severities and 
oppressions of the Spanish conquerors, broke the spirit 
of these once proud nations, and so trampled them in 
the dust, as to annihilate those sentiments and affec- 
tions, which form the basis of national pride and tradi- 
tionary lore. It is a violent assumption, unsupported 
by any parallel in history, ancient or modern. Remove 
them from their ancient inheritance, transplant them to 
other climes, surround them with other scenes, amalga- 
mate them with other people, and they may, in process 
of time, forget their origin and their name. But, in 
the midst of their father's sepulchres, with their tem- 
ples, their pyramids, their palaces, all aromid them, 

Their native soil beneath tlieir feet, 
Their native skies above them, — 

it is inconceivable, impossible. 

At this point I shall probably be interrupted, by the 
inquisitive reader, with the question, whether I am not 
overturning my own position, by insisting that the 



THE TOLTECS. 207 

ancient Aztecs, and their works, must necessarily live 
in tradition, while I allow that the Mexican Indians 
retain no memory of their ancestors. I conceive not. 
The ruins to which I refer, are not those of the Mexi- 
can and Tezcucan cities, which were sacked by the 
Spaniards, almost demolished, and then rebuilt in a 
comparatively modern style of architecture. Of those 
we need no native tradition. The Spanish histories 
have told us all that we can know of them. 

But even of these, as the Spaniards found them, we 
have no certain evidence that the people who then 
occupied them, were the sole builders. We have both 
tradition and history to justify us in asserting that they 
were not. Another race had preceded them, and filled 
the country with their works of genius and art. The 
Toltecs, whose advent into the territory of Anahuac, 
is placed as far back as the seventh century of the 
Christian era, were not inferior to the Aztecs in refine- 
ment, and the knowledge of the mechanic arts. To 
them the Aztec paintings accord the credit of most of 
the science which prevailed among themselves, and 
acknowledged them as the fountain head of their civili- 
zation. The capital of their empire was at Tula, north 
of the Mexican valley, and the remains of extensive 
buildings were to be seen there at the time of the con- 
quest. To the same people were ascribed the ruins of 
other noble edifices, found in various places throughout 
the country, so vast and magnificent, that, with some 
writers, " the name, Toltec^ has passed into a synonyme 
for architect^ Following in their footsteps, and ac- 
knowledging them as their teachers, it would not be 
strange if the Aztecs should, in some instances, have 



208 A CHOICE OF CONCLUSIONS. 

occupied the buildings they left behind, and employed 
the remnant that still remained in the country, in erect- 
ing others. 

But, without insisting upon this conjecture, it is clear 
that there were other and earlier builders than the 
Aztecs. The Toltecs passed away, as a nation, a full 
century, according to the legend, before the arrival of the 
Aztecs. Their works filled the country. Accounts of 
them abounded in the Tezcucan tablets. They were 
celebrated by the Aztec painters. They were still mag- 
nificent and wonderful in ruins, when the Spaniards 
arrived. And yet, among the present race of Indians 
in Mexico, there is no tradition respecting them, no 
knowledge of their origin, no interest whatever in their 
history. 

From these premises, we have a choice of two con- 
clusions. Either the ruined buildings and cities of 
Anahuac are not the work of the comparatively modern 
race of Aztecs, or the present Indians are not the descen- 
dants of that race. That the former conclusion is true, 
I think there cannot be a doubt. The latter may be 
true, also, to a great extent. That refined and haughty 
people may have wasted entirely away under the grind- 
ing yoke of their new task-masters, and the indolent 
inefficient slaves, that remain as their nominal repre- 
sentatives, may be only the degenerate posterity of infe- 
rior tribes, the vassals of the Mexican crown. 

Another consideration which strongly favors the 
view I have taken, with respect to the antiquity of these 
ruins, is the character of the ruins themselves, and the 
condition in which they are found. That they do not 
all belong to one race, nor to one age, it seems to me 



THESE WORKS ERECTED IN DIFFERENT AGES. 209 

no careful or candid observer can deny. They are of 
different constructions, and different styles of architec- 
ture. They are widely different in their finish and adorn- 
ments. And they are in every stage of decay, from a 
habitable and tolerably comfortable dwelling, to a con- 
fused mass of undistinguishable ruins. In all these par- 
ticulars, as well as in the gigantic forests which have 
grown up in the walls and on the terraces of some of 
them, and the deep deposit of vegetable mould which has 
accumulated upon others, they are clearly seen to belong 
to different and distant ages, and consequently to be the 
work of many different artists. That some of them 
were the work of the Toltecs, is well substantiated, as 
we have already seen. What portion of the great area 
of ruins to assign to them, I know not. But if, as 
one of the most cautious and judicious historians sup- 
poses, they were the architects of Mitla, Palenque and 
Copan, thus fixing the date of those magnificent cities 
several centuries anterior to the rise of the Aztec 
dynasty, they could not have been the first of the 
American builders. Their works are still in a com- 
paratively good state of preservation, and may remain, 
for ages to come, the dumb yet eloquent monuments of 
their greatness ; while others, not only in their imme- 
diate vicinity, but in different parts of the country, are 
crumbled, decayed, scattered, and buried, as if long ages 
had passed over them, before the foundations of the 
former were laid. There is every thing in the style 
and appearance of the ruins to favor this conclusion, 
and to confirm the opinion, that some of them are 
farther removed in their origin from the Toltecs, than 
the Toltecs are from us. Some of those described in 



210 ORIGIN OP THE AMERICAN RACES. 

the preceding chapters of this work, are manifestly 
many ages older than those of Chi-chen, Uxmal and 
others in Yucatan, which I visited on a former occasion. 

Having extended these remarks somewhat farther 
than I intended, perhaps I ought to apologize to the 
reader for asking his attention, a few moments, to an- 
other problem growing out of this subject, which has 
given rise to more discussion, and been attended with 
less satisfaction in its results, than any other. I refer 
to the origin of the ancient American races. From 
what quarter of the globe did they come ? And how 
did they get here ? 

The last question I shall not touch at all. It will 
answer itself, as soon as the other is settled. And, if that 
cannot be settled at all — if we are utterly foiled in our 
efforts to ascertain whence they came — it will be of little 
avail to inquire for the how. 

The learned author of " The Vestiges of Creation," 
and other equally profound speculators of the Monboddo 
school, would probably find an easy way to unravel 
the enigma, on their sceptical theory of the progres- 
sive generation of man. But regarding the Mosaic 
history as worthy not only of a general belief, but of 
a literal interpretation, 1 cannot dispose of the question 
in that summary way. I would rather meet it with all 
its seemingly irreconcilable difficulties about it, or not 
meet it at all, than favor the subtle atheism of these 
baptized canting Voltaires, and relinquish my early and 
cherished faith, that man is the immediate offspring of 
God, the peculiar workmanship of his Divine hand. 
There is nothing soothing to my pride of reason, noth- 
ing grateful to my affections, nothing elevating to my 



THE SOLITARY TRADITION. 211 

faith, in the idea that man is but an improved species 
of monkey, a civiUzed ourang-outang, with his tail 
worn off, or driven in. 

There is but one soHtary tradition among all the 
American races, bearing upon the general question of 
their origin ; and that, singularly enough, is universal 
among them. It represents them as coming from 
northwest. From what other portion of the world, from 
what distance, at what time, and in what manner, it 
does not in any way declare, or intimate. Whether 
it was five centuries ago, or fifty, there is not, I believe, 
a single tribe that pretends to know, or to guess. And 
yet there is not a tribe on this side the great northern 
lakes, among whom this general tradition of the migra- 
tion of their ancestors from the northwest, is not found. 
There are many and various traditions among them in 
respect to other matters, presenting many and curious 
coincidences with the traditionary and fabulous history 
of some of the oldest nations in the world. But, on 
this point, the origin of their own races, they have 
nothing to say, except that, at a remote period of anti- 
quity, their fathers came from the northwest. 

With such an index as this, pointing so decidedly 
and unchangeably to Behring's strait, where the coast 
of Asia approaches within fifty miles of that of Amer- 
ica, it would seem, at first sight, that the question 
might be easily answered. And so it could be, but 
that some authors are more fond of conjecture than of 
certainty, of doubt than of probability. To those who 
believe, with Moses, that the peopling of the earth com- 
menced in Asia, there is manifestly no mode of account- 
ing for the population of America, so natural as that 



212 IMAGINARY DIFFICULTIES 

to which this one omni-prevalent tradition points. It 
would have been considered abundantly sufficient and 
satisfactory, if it had not been continually involved with 
other questions, on the solution of which it does not 
necessarily depend. 

One writer, for example, thinks it impossible that 
these people could have come to America, by way of 
Behring's Strait, because there are animals in the trop- 
ical regions who could not have come that way. Be 
it so. The question relates not to animals, but to Tnen. 
By whatever other way they might have come, it is not 
at all probable that they would have brought tigers, 
monkeys, or rattle-snakes with them. If it could be 
proved, by authentic and unquestionable records, that 
they crossed the Atlantic or the Pacific in ships, the 
mystery of the tropical animals would still remain to 
be solved. 

Another, and it is a numerous class, whose imagina- 
tion is inflamed with fancied resemblances in the lan- 
guages, customs, traditions and mythology of the Indian 
races, to those of particular nations in the old World, 
deems it absolutely necessary to construct some other 
ancient, but now obliterated highway, to our shores, 
from those parts of Europe or Asia, nearest to that from 
which his favorite theory supposes them to have sprung. 
To some, Iceland was the natural stepping stone, a 
half-way house, from the North of Europe. To others, 
a chain of islands once stretched from the shores of 
Africa to those of South America — a sort of Giant's 
Causeway from Continent to Continent, miraculously 
thrown up for the purpose of stocking this Western 
World with men and animals, and then, like a useless 



MANY DIFFERENT RACES. 213 

draw-bridge, as miraculously laid aside. Other theo- 
ries, not less extravagant than these, have been invented, 
and strenuously maintained, for the benevolent purpose 
of accommodating the poor Aborigines with an easy 
passage from their supposed birth place to their present 
homes. Yet, strange to say, those obstinate and un- 
grateful savages all persist in declaring that, when their 
ancestors arrived in this country, they came by way of 
the northwest. 

It is one of the prominent errors of most of the wri- 
ters on this subject, that, with the exception of the 
Esquimaux, they aim to find a common origin for all 
the American tribes. True, there is a common type to 
all the North American Indians, and there is good rea- 
son to suppose that they sprung from a common stock. 
But it is not so with the nations of Central and South 
America, or rather with those of them whose mighty 
works have given rise to these discussions. I think it 
cannot be questioned, that there were among them, 
the representatives of many different nations or races. 
Of this the sculptured heads we have exhibited from 
among the ruins of their ancient cities, bear witness. 
Compare the outlines and features of the heads repre- 
sented on pages 128, 130, 136, and 178, of the present 
work, first with each other, then with the different rep- 
resentations of the human head, as found among these 
ancient relics by other travellers, and then again with 
the types of the four great divisions of the human fam- 
ily. The comparison exhibits this curious result, that 
the American, or Indian type, has no representative 
among these sculptured figures ; while almost every 
variety of the Caucasian and Mongolian is found there. 



214 THE AMERICAN TYPE NOT POUND. 

If the portrait of Montezuma, in the second vohnne of 
Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, be taken as a genuine 
Ukeness, it is plain that he did not belong to the Amer- 
ican race. There is no mark of the Indian about it. 

It will be admitted, I suppose, that Art, in all ages, 
and among all nations, is but a humble imitator of 
Nature. The Sculptor, and the Painter, works always 
by a model. His heau ideal is the highest form of liv- 
ing beauty which he sees around him. He may select 
and combine the features of several subjects, to make a 
perfect whole. But these features are all those of the 
living beings with whom he is conversant, and repre- 
sent the race to which he belongs. And whenever he 
departs from the living model, except to select and com- 
bine, his figures become invariably grotesque, ridicu- 
lous and disgusting. 

Was it because the ancient American artists, at the 
time when their works of art were executed, had never 
seen a specimen of what we call the American race, 
that there is no good representation of the Indian head 
among their works? We are not surprised that the 
African is wanting there ; for, notwithstanding the 
" Giant's Causeway " above alluded to, no individual of 
that race seems ever to have visited the shores of Amer- 
ica, except by compulsion. They were unknown to 
the Aborigines, till they were introduced by the whites, 
as slaves. Shall I venture to infer, from the absence of 
the Indian type, that that race was also unknown here, 
at the time when these artists flourished on the Ameri- 
can soil ? Were all these great works constructed and 
finished before the present races of Indians found their 
way into that part of the Continent? How old, then, 



MIGRATORY HABITS OP THE EARLY AGES. 215 

are the works ? Who were the builders ? From what 
part of the great human family did they spring ? 

In treating banteringly of the " Talismanic Penates," 
in my tenth chapter, I presumed to draw from them 
some evidence of the Asiatic origin of the people by 
whom they were cherished. The figures on the 178th 
page are representatives of originals found only in 
that part of the world. The solitary tradition referred 
to above, points in the same direction. Did Tartary, 
China, or Japan, furnish to America, ages ago, a race 
of sculptors and palace-builders ? 

In the early ages of the world's history, the families 
of men were far more unsettled, and migratory in their 
habits, than they now are. It was not an uncommon 
thing for whole nations to change their abodes at once. 
The north of Europe, and the adjacent regions of Asia, 
like an over-populous hive, sent out many swarms of 
restless adventurers, to overrun and occupy the fairer 
fields of the south. Goths, Vandals, Huns, swept over 
the land, in successive deluges, that threatened to over- 
turn every vestige of ancient civilization. But the 
mighty flood rolled back from the walls of Rome, and 
carried with it the arts and sciences, and the enervating 
luxuries of the south. In all these desperate encounters 
of barbarism with civilization, there was an extensive 
interchange, and blending of nations and races. Each 
melted into each, like the glaciers of the mountain, and 
the lakes of the valley, blended and lost in the stream 
that bears them both to the ocean. The same irrup- 
tions, the same amalgamations of conquerors with the 
conquered, took place in earlier ages, in the far east. 
And there is no violent improbability in supposing, that 



216 CONCLUSION. 

the overcharged fountain of humanity, in the central 
regions, sometimes overleaped its eastern barriers, as 
well as its western, and, meeting with no resistance, as 
in the south, spread itself quite to the shores of the 
Pacific, and thence into the neighboring continent of 
America. This may have been done at many different 
and distant periods, even back to the dispersion of 
Babel. Who shall say it was not so ? We know 
almost as little of ancient eastern Asia, as of ancient 
America. But we do know that it might have fur- 
nished all the races that are known, or supposed, to 
have existed here. If we had not authentic records 
for the irruptions of the northern hordes, and for the 
great crusades of the Middle Ages, the Old World 
would furnish enigmas, as difficult to be solved, as 
those of the New. 



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